Epistasis of Decoherence
by RFLP
Summary: English translation of "Epistasis de la decoherencia" by Luf5/RFLP. A tale about an intruder, a part-time warrior, an envoy of chaos, a mad scientist and his assistant.
1. Chapter 1

This work is a **translation** made by **Luf5**. The original version is in Spanish (Original name: Epistasis de la decoherencia). It is really a great job and I am very grateful to her. (**Really, I thank you with all my heart Luf5**!).

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Introduction:

Hello, readers.

This is a story that I have been writing since last year and whose first version I published earlier in fanfiction. I am currently editing and republishing it, with the intention of also translating it into English.

The translation (English) is in charge of the user **Luf5**.

There is also a Portuguese translation of this story by **Steins;Gate Brasil** (for read this, follow their page in Facebook)

The story is situated two years after the end of the first visual novel or anime Steins;Gate. It also contains references to characters from Steins;Gate 0 and other spinoff works.

*****IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT UPDATES:****

The plot of this fanfic is something that I constantly plan and reformulate. I declare my intention to write the most of my ideas, or at least come to an end, even if it is not the one I have chosen at the moment (because I have one in mind). However, the plot is so long and the process of writing (and later translation) is arduous. It may take years to be realized. I plan to do what I can to coordinate my writing times with my other responsibilities, but I make it clear that while finishing the fanfic is something I would like and desire, it is not my priority in life.***

****WARNINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW BEFORE READING THIS FANFIC****

*This fic may contain OoC and deformation of canonical interpretations about the mechanics of worldlines and attractor fields.  
*This fic uses scientific concepts not validated yet.  
*This fic touches on socially sensitive topics.  
*Actual historical events may be altered.  
*Real brand names are misshapen for rights reasons.  
*Original characters are NOT intended to be realistic, nor strictly serious writing.  
*This fic uses stereotypes of the manga / anime genre.  
*In this line of events, the OVA "Egoistic Poriomania" and the movie "Load Region of Déjà Vu" never happened.  
*This story has nothing to do with the canonical continuation of the characters shown in Robotic;Notes, Robotic:Notes DaSH or any other work from the Science Adventure series.  
*This fanfic can be catalogued as an "alternative future of the Steins;Gate made by a fan for other fans".  
*Finally, although there is OkaKuri, this is not a fanfic focused on romance. If you just want to read a romantic story, this may not be your fic.

Without further ado, I declare that I wrote this to entertain you and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.

The Author.

**_Disclaimer: Steins; Gate and its characters are property of 5pb / Nitroplus._**

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**_EPISTASIS OF DECOHERENCE_**

**FIRST PART**

**Chapter 1**

**The Schrödinger Squad**

_Saturday, September 27, 2036_

The young man put on a long black trench coat, and looking at his own reflection on the surface of the time machine, he fixed his reddish-brown hair.

He took three steps back and spent some time taking a better look at the big artifact he had worked on. He thought that since the machine was completely functional, it deserved some kind of name. Following tradition of its creators, it had to have the previous future gadget's consecutive number; but despite his intentions of snatching it away from its true owners, he didn't want to abandon that custom. So, he'd name it "K204 (name subject to change)," until he thought of something better.

The time machine's similarities with an old satellite, added to the cyberpunk appearance of the coat he chose which made the young man feel like the main character of an old Sci-Fi series. As if he were to start a Space Opera style adventure with a historical fiction tinge; or it would perhaps be more appropriate to expect a kind of thriller, with action, drama, comedy and last but not least, romance. That'd be good for him.

The only thing missing was for him to start narrating. Then, taking inspiration from a show he remembered having seen as a child, he began to recite the great introduction in his mind:

_"Time: The true final frontier."_

Overcoming limits that were believed to be impassable, does it matter if man reaches Mars? Reaching space was only a matter of time and defeating the latter would be his goal.

_"Our mission: To explore the past to fix the web of temporal grids, traveling to places where no man has gone before."_

He who controls time can control everything: past, present and future are all one thing. Everything could be changed, nothing was inalterable. The current circulating reality, which his parents named "Steins;Gate" could be fixed. He'd use this invention for that.

_"That's it. Didn't you say I was a fool for wishing to travel in time?"_

He told the figure that barged into his mind.

_"Perhaps you wanted to try it and failed, but I have shown that I am better. I finished your invention and I'll take it without your permission. I'll go fix what you don't dare to. 'Nobody should interfere with the Steins;Gate?', 'We must accept reality as it is?', don't make me laugh."_

He felt the sudden desire to imitate that evil laugh he heard so many times in his childhood. He crossed his arms in front of him and took a big breath.

"Fuahahahahaha!" His voice resounded all across the room.

Yes, the imitation was really good; he could even receive an award for it. But he soon heard some steps walking across the enclosure and he went on the alert.

Was "he" also there? Had "he" caught him? The young man had secretly worked all the time, but he never moved the apparatus from the place they abandoned it. Perhaps "he" had discovered his work. Perhaps "he" would try to stop him.

The young man closed his fists. He wouldn't allow anyone to stop him. He'd turn around and face him if necessary: It didn't matter what he said. He'd go to the past, fix everything, he didn't care about anything else, he.…

"What's so funny Keitarou?"

A young woman with two long braids wearing dark green sports clothes was at his side.

"Hashida-san!" Keitarou exclaimed, feeling a big relief. "I'm glad it's you."

"Of course, it's me. Were you waiting for someone else?" She replied, tilting her head. "Tell me, what were you thinking before? You seemed amused and I want to laugh too."

"Nothing special. Did you bring your things?"

Perhaps that was an unnecessary question since the girl carried a big military style backpack on her back. Rather than responding, she stared at him. She noticed that her friend wanted to divert her curiosity.

"If you don't want to tell me what you were thinking I'm just going to try to guess it." And putting her hand on her chin, she began to think about it. "Yeah, I got it! It must've been that."

Keitarou looked at her, intrigued. His dear childhood friend loved playing those kinds of games. He wondered if this time she had successfully figured his thoughts out.

Hashida's look seemed serious.

"I know you were thinking of some perverted stuff and that's why you don't want to tell me!" She said, pointing at Keitarou with an accusing finger.

A brief silence followed the accusation while she lowered her finger and gave him a mischievous look.

"In fact, I'm sure it was something extremely perverse by the way you were laughing, similar to a netorare story or perhaps something with tentacles, isn't it?"

"Of course not, Hashida-san!" Keitarou finally responded. "Why do you always have to assume those things?"

"Eh? That wasn't it? Well, it looks like I got it wrong again, don't get so offended." She added, keeping her smile and rubbing her head. "But due to your reaction when I got here, I'd swear you were thinking about someone. I wonder who that could be..."

After adding that comment, and while she thought about the person in her friend's mind, Hashida occupied herself with walking around the imponent apparatus.

Keitarou couldn't take his eyes off the attractive athletic figure walking around the room. He knew that, behind that feminine appearance, hidden, was a great fighter who could defeat a thousand men in a fight. However, despite considering herself a "soldier in training," Hashida kept her happy personality and treated everyone around her with kindness.

Everyone except Keitarou, of course. She loved to poke fun at him every chance she got, but does that really matter? She was his best friend and was there to accompany him as his loyal right-hand woman.

"The only person I can think about now is Hashida Suzuha."

He said it quietly; he thought she wouldn't hear him due to the distance between them. But after saying it, the aforementioned girl turned towards and looked at him.

"Wait! Don't think I do it in a perverted way!" He exclaimed nervously. "What I meant was that I, I, Hashida-san…"

"I understand why you're so happy Keitarou.", she interrupted. "It looks phenomenal now that it's finished. It amazes me that our parents designed this, it is an incredible invention."

The time machine was Keitarou's parents' idea, with the collaboration of Suzuha's dad. Those three united brilliant minds had accomplished the planning of such a magnificent device that could travel to both past and present without using big quantities of fuel in the process.

However, before the apparatus was finished and the last technical details solved, they abandoned the project, and the machine was left in a rented shed next to other faulty or incomplete devices. Their children discovered its existence by mere luck.

Keitarou decided to seize the prototype, and without letting the former owners know, he dedicated himself to complete the apparatus and make it work. After seven months of work, he finally achieved his objective. The result gave him the biggest satisfaction he had ever felt in his life.

"Listen Hashida-san," he called his friend's attention, "we will soon travel to the past in this machine. I thank you for responding to my request of help for the mission I've decided to take on. As a reward I, Okabe Keitarou, promise to you that on your nineteenth birthday, after completing our work in the year 2012, will take you to the time in history that you wish to visit."

"Really? You can take me anywhere I want?" Suzuha happily asked.

"That's right.", he confirmed, "To the Gardens of Babylon, the Mayan Pyramids, or even to the first Kinkaku-ji. Neither one of those places will be a big challenge, because this machine is calibrated to travel both in time and space. That was my best personal improvement from the original version, which could only move in one of the four dimensions."

He made a brief pause to fix the collar of his coat and continued with his speech with a confident demeanor.

"From now on, our team will be called 'The Schrödinger Squad'. With that name we will make history as the first time-travelers in the world. I know you like being the leader Hashida-san, but I think I must be the one to guide this expedition."

"I'll let you do it, but this time only." she responded, smiling still.

Keitarou's excitement kept increasing with each word he said and after hearing his friend's response, it wouldn't stop now. While going up the machine's steps he began to proclaim:

"We will do it. The Schrödinger Squad will travel to the past and will discover all the secrets of history! The world won't be able to hide anything from us!" he exclaimed, peaking with excitement. "With your strength and my mind, we will overcome all the obstacles, and nothing can stop us as long as we're together. I promise you that you and I will experience a great adventure, Hashida Suzuha!"

He said those words honestly, trusting that she'd realized what his true feeling were. It wasn't the first time that he expressed his intentions, yet he still expected that this time, she noticed them.

Instead, Suzuha began to endlessly laugh. Her loud laughs were so strong and so long that she had to hold her belly with a hand, while she dried the tears coming out her amber eyes with the other.

Okabe Keitarou felt humiliated. He went down the steps and his knees wobbled, making him almost fall to the ground. But he didn't want to give up the small remains of his already hurt masculinity.

It didn't matter how many times Suzuha destroyed him with her unexpected reactions, he wouldn't give up.

"Am I only a joke to you, Hashida-san?" he asked firmly.

"That's not it Keitarou, please don't get mad." she responded, while trying to stop laughing, "It's just that you… you were…"

Without success, she began to laugh again, which bothered Keitarou.

"I what? Tell me what's so funny already!" he demanded.

She managed to contain herself and got ready to talk, keeping her usual smile, but with a more serious tone in her voice.

"You see, first it's the name you gave us, then that speech you gave, and lastly the coat you're wearing."

"What's wrong with my coat?" he asked, "I think it looks good."

"That thing? I don't even believe people in 2012 wear that, although you always liked dressing weird."

But Keitarou believed that there wasn't anything wrong with his fashion sense. He trusted he had inherited the good fashion taste from his mother.

He crossed his arms and raised one eyebrow, he waited for her to explain her true thoughts.

"I suspected as soon as I heard you while I came in." Suzuha confessed, "What you did before was, nothing more than, acting like uncle Okarin!"

Keitarou didn't appreciate the comment and looked at her with a puzzled look, as if he didn't understand what she was saying.

"And the funniest part was that you did it your own way, do you understand now, future child?"

"Yes, I was imitating him before, but only that silly laugh he's got." He refuted. "Plus, you very well know that I don't look like that guy, so don't compare me with him."

"Come on, Keitarou, stop being so grumpy and admit it already, after all, he's your father." she reproached, "You shouldn't be embarrassed, actually, I think it's really cute that you try to look like him."

Cute? Did she really use that word?

Suzuha may be a few months older, but he wasn't a kid either to be treated as such. Plus, when it came to being compared to his father, Okabe Keitarou didn't want to admit any similarities. Doing it was inconceivable.

"No, Hashida-san, you're wrong." he denied it, "Stop imagining that I want to be like that loser Hououin Kyouma."

"Dad is not a loser."

A voice was heard on the other side of the room and caught the attention of the youngsters, who turned towards the spot it came from.

"Good morning Shizuka-chan." Suzuha greeted, "I didn't see you there."

"Good morning." was her reply.

In a corner, next to her bag and with a big stuffed bunny as her luggage, there was Okabe Shizuka. She was barely a teenager with big light brown eyes and long black hair. It could be said that her childlike appearance gave her a certain charm; but, as her name denounced, her biggest feature was not talking much. It was rare when she would express herself through any means and if it wasn't for the few times she made some comments when she wanted to intervene in what was happening around her, her presence would go unnoticed.

Keitarou looked at his younger sister with disgust. He knew that she hated to waste her words without a good reason, but even so, she chose to defend their father. He couldn't understand her.

"Did you finish that Shizuka?"

She made an affirmative movement with her head and gave her brother the three cellphones that up until a moment ago, were in her possession. She had worked on them the whole previous time.

"What is that? They look really ancient, what do you need them for?" Suzuha asked.

"This will be the way we communicate when we arrive to the past, they're that era's models. I managed to make them work and I asked Shizuka to encode them so nobody can intercept us."

The encoding of the teenager had to be infallible. After all, Okabe Shizuka was Hashida Itaru's favorite disciple, who had trained her in the art of all programming codes developed since the 80's. She was also an expert in information security and an experienced hacker at only fourteen years of age, being able to outsmart every security barrier with a monstrous easiness.

Even her dad liked to admit that she was a "lover of chaos, destruction, and most of all, jumping rabbits, IT genius girl."

Suzuha felt uncomfortable. She didn't like the idea of giving up her usual technology, but she understood that camouflage was a necessary feature for every active soldier, so that wasn't the reason for her discomfort. Her main concern was the fact Shizuka would accompany them.

Keitarou insisted that Shizuka could be useful in the past, but the young woman with the braids couldn't trust people capable of betraying others. Since Shizuka's brother couldn't complete the time machine without the help of the original blueprints, it was Shizuka who took them without permission from her teacher's computer. A hacker hacked another hacker.

Even so, Suzuha decided to let it go and didn't say anything about it.

Without having to wait on anyone else, the Schrödinger Squad was ready to depart.

They secured the luggage in a machine's empty seat. It was originally designed to transport four people, but the squad only consisted of three.

"Can I pilot it?" Suzuha asked setting herself next to the control panel, "I have a feeling that I know how to do it."

Her friend gave his approval. Despite the possible complications, he knew that the machine was safe. He had tested it with short trips, to both the past and the future, always trying not to arrive at dates that could cause problems. The worst part of the experiments was having to avoid running into himself or being gone for too long. Going and coming right away wasn't recommended, because the intensive use could overheat the apparatus. So, he had to wait at least some hours in between tests. The trips never went over a few days of temporal displacement.

If unexpected risks were a possibility when trying to go 24 years back in time, the protocol was still the same for all the actions. The only thing needed was to input the date into the clock and the desired location into the coordinates map: the location had already been predetermined. If it had worked before, it would work now.

Shizuka was the only one that wasn't aboard and instead was looking from the entrance without moving.

"Come on in already, don't you want to get that old computer?" Keitarou insisted from the inside, "What was its name? N3Xt Computer?"

"IBN5100." she responded.

"That one. You'll have a better chance of finding it in the past than just standing there."

Without speaking any more words, the last crew member set herself into her seat. The bunny was on her lap.

Hashida Suzuha input the date into the panel and pulled a lever. The door closed and the machinery started up. However, the trip wouldn't be immediate, so they had to wait for a brief lapse to arrive at their destination. The silence became deeper as they went through the dimensions.

"Tell me again, why the year 2012 specifically?" Suzuha asked, trying to break the silence.

"The theoretical calculations indicate that year as the beginning of the superposition of worldlines. Plus, I have a clue about the date my parents could've worked together in what I'm looking for."

"Are you sure that you'll cure your amnesias with that? Because I don't understand what one thing has to do with the other. I mean, you hadn't been born yet."

The question was difficult to answer. The amnesias that Keitarou suffered were so peculiar, that not even his mother, a great well-known neuroscientist and expert in the field of human memory, hadn't found an effective solution to fight them. However, the young man knew that their cause wasn't a physiological error that could be treated, but a secondary effect from the imperfections on the time physics.

"I'm sure." he responded.

"I just hope we get back home before the afternoon. Mama promised to bake me a gigantic cake."

"Don't worry Hashida-san, my priority will be for you two to go back safely. Plus, if things went south and you were in danger, I…"

"If anything bad happens, I'll protect you Keitarou, so don't go crying." Suzuha interrupted happily, "Remember that we have to go play airsoft together next week. I saw a Marucen M870 shotgun in Shinjuku that you could buy with your savings."

Before her friend could begin to show a little interest on investing his money on airsoft markers and accompanying her to survival games organized by the Valkyrie Resistance, Suzuha groped her pocket looking for something.

"By the way, I brought this for you." she handed him a package, "They were my dad's. Mama was going to get rid of them, but I thought you'd like them. You know, they'll go well with that weird coat."

Keitarou felt very weird having an object that belonged to Hashida Itaru. He usually avoided running into him, who despite being his father's best friend, accused him of irrational things, like paying too much attention to the 3D world, or belonging to a male generation that had lost the habit of playing the sacred eroge games. But he must admit that the fingerless black gloves had a style he liked.

While they talked, some strange white lights began to blink all around. Those shining lights were only a secondary effect from a Kerr black hole when traveling through time, but the scene was impressive to the sight. Even Shizuka, who usually seemed uninterested, put a lot of effort trying to catch the sparkles that crossed her hair.

As they got closer to their destination, the gravity's force began to suddenly increase and the final phase felt like a long free fall, that they could only resist by holding onto their seats. When the shaking ended and the machine stopped moving, the first one to unbuckle his seatbelt was Keitarou, who then opened the door and went outside, followed by Suzuha.

They both went to a nearby railing.

"We did it Hashida-san!" he exclaimed looking around, "We truly did it!"

"But where are we now?"

It looked like they were on the rooftop of a 5 or 6 story building approximately. The view wasn't very clear, and some skyscrapers towered above their heads. Despite being morning when they left their time, the sun was already descending.

"In Akihabara, I chose this place because it's abandoned in the future."

Looking down, they realized that the place was still in business. People came in and out the main entrance; some people walked on the streets and others directed their eyes towards the sign crowning the building's façade.

Hashida Suzuha feared that the apparatus could stand out and get people's attention. She turned around to confirm it, but behind her, she could only see Shizuka, next to the luggage that they brought for the expedition, which was now laying on the ground.

"It's covered with invisibility layers from plasmonic technology with automatic activation when evacuated." Keitarou clarified, "I believe that is this machine's best characteristic."

"But if the buttons are invisible, how are we going to open it back up?" his friend asked.

"It's a little bothersome, but it takes me less than thirty minutes to find the digital fingertip authenticator." he responded, admitting that the idea of invisibility was better in theory than in practice. "The important part is that they don't discover us."

"Hey you!"

A middle age man opened the door to the stairs.

"You aren't allowed to come up here. Plus, we just had an earthquake. So, leave now before you get in trouble."

Given the current situation, they didn't have any other options other than to grab their things and go downstairs. The time machine would have to stay there, waiting for them to discover a better place to hide it.

"Excuse me sir, what is this building?" Suzuha asked going down the stairs.

"What!? What kind of question is that, child?" the man reclaimed, "Are you to tell me that you can't tell this is the legendary Super Potatoes? Blasphemous people aren't welcome! Get out of here now!"

When they were inside, they understood that it wasn't just any store. It was packed with paraphernalia of ancient videogames, all of them discontinued from manufacturing. They were only able to recognize them through pictures they had seen online as children.

Despite the previous seismic movement, the visitors didn't stop buying the entertainment contained in impractical cartridges of 8 and 16 bits, in CDs sensitive to being scratched, and in portable consoles that looked very heavy to hold for long hours. Meanwhile, on the fifth floor, others played with hard buttons and handles of wide machines, with monitors of tubes without any tactile function.

But despite the impracticality of the past, nobody would dare question the unbreakably sacred things that museum held.

The Schrödinger Squad felt like participating in that retro fever, and temporarily forgetting their mission, they decided to stay and play. Suzuha beat Keitarou several times in the fighting games, although he managed to get a win after multiple tries. Even Shizuka achieved a high score on one of the machines and got surrounded by an entourage that encouraged her, although she didn't exchange a word with them.

It got dark soon and it was time to leave the store.

Already on the street, the three of them were ready to go their separate ways. The girls would stay together and search for a place where they could stay in the city; he would go farther away to execute his plan.

They gave the final indications of their tasks, exchanged goodbyes, and before the squad split up definitely, a voice interrupted Keitarou.

"Onii-chan."

He felt how his sister was fixatedly looking at him when he turned around. He knew she had one last thing to tell him.

"Are you scared?" she asked.

"What do you mean, Shizuka? What should I be scared of?"

"To change history."

He sighed. He understood well the worry that she wanted to express, although she didn't even move one muscle on her face when saying it.

"You very well know the reason for this. It'll be the best thing for all of us." He put his arm on her head, giving her a soft blow. "So, don't worry about me, silly little sister. Just do me a favor and do not reveal your identity and don't get in any trouble."

Shizuka didn't say anything else.

They watched how their partner walked towards the train station, and then they began to go their own way towards the opposite direction from Chuo Dori, disappearing among the crowd.


	2. Chapter 2

To Guest (Apr 8): My mistake, I fixed the name of the street in both, Spanish and English

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**Chapter 2  
**

**About Tsunderes and Mad Scientists**

_Sunday, September 30th, 2012_

After taking a flight from America to Japan, and then a bus from the Haneda airport to the Wako-shi station, Makise Kurisu felt tired from the trip. Fortunately for her, the longest transportation period had ended, and she was now walking through the streets towards her new residence, hoping to arrive as soon as possible.

The following working days would be demanding, considering that as soon as the next day she'd work in the Neurotechnological Research Laboratory, belonging to the RIKEM Brain Science Institute. She thought that she'd enjoy taking a day off, although that'd be asking for too much since she was barely starting; but hypothetically speaking, if she had it, she'd sure use it to see her friends. They hadn't been able to go to the airport to welcome her since they were busy, and she didn't want to trouble them.

She didn't want to bother the "mad scientist" prototype either, or at least that's what she told herself. She had asked the other lab members not to say anything about her visit because she believed that seeing him was inconvenient for both. Avoiding him premeditatedly was an effective strategy to save the explanations.

Two weeks prior, her _senpai_ Hiyaho Maho, and her supervisor, professor Alexis Leskinen, called her to talk about a private business. It seemed that an offer from Japan had been sent to Victor Chondria University: it consisted of exchanging human resources between both institutions, with a modest economic compensation for living expenses in the eastern country. The exchange's final objective was to publish under both groups to strengthen the international ties at a scientific level. They wanted her to accept the proposal.

Kurisu seemed interested in the offer, although she hesitated for a brief moment if this would be bad for the course of her current research in America. However, her superiors' intentions were very clear:

"You act very strange every time you come back from Japan, Kurisu. You seem distracted; at times, you are absent minded, and you even make several mistakes. That's not like you at all." her senpai had told her, "Perhaps it'd be convenient for you to stay over there for a while until you're able to clear your feelings, it wouldn't be good for our lab if you stay in that state of mind."

Leskinen, meanwhile, wanted Chris to finally take the big step and bring back the person she sighed about during her experiments, that "Linthahlo" guy which Maho had told him about. He had also asked her to visit some Japanese temples and take pictures of "Shaman girls" while she was there.

She didn't agree with their opinions and felt offended with their attitude. Okabe Rintarou was a peculiar character that she'd met two years ago and under her perspective, they were only friends.

However, after thinking about it for some days, she decided to accept the offer. The reason: it'd be fun working in a different setting, she could learn many new things. That'd help her get back to the path of excellence she always shot for. Plus, when she had free time, she'd go to Akihabara and visit the Future Gadget Lab; that didn't mean that she wanted to see that stupid Okabe particularly (that's what she constantly told herself) but rather, she wanted to chat with Mayuri and Urishubara-san.

Those was her only intentions.

She halted her walk at the main door of an apartment complex, which was mostly for temporary rentals. She would've liked going to her favorite hotel in Ochanomizu, but due to the length of time she was planning on staying, the commuting times, and her reduced budget, she had to look for a different option and the place wasn't so bad. It'd be three whole months she'd live there, beginning then.

Before going in and forgetting about it, she took out her cell phone: she wanted to let Mayuri know that she'd arrived well. She opened her instant messaging RINE app and began a new chat.

_«Makise Kurisu:_

_I'm already in Wako, I'll settle down at work and as soon as I have some free time, I'll stop by the lab. »_

_«Shiina Mayuri:_

_I'm so glad Kurisu-chan! Everyone in the lab will be happy to welcome you _＼_(^o^)_／ _»_

_«Makise Kurisu:_

_I want to see you all soon too, but please, don't tell stupid Okabe I'm here. I'm not ready to deal with him just yet. »_

_«Shiina Mayuri:_

_Emmm, I'm really sorry Kurisu-chan (+_+). I'm afraid Okarin is very insistent when he is interested in something (_・___・_;)»_

"What does she mean?" she asked herself, confused.

When she advanced a few steps, someone stopped her by pulling on her coat. When turning around, she saw a masculine figure, whose expression demanded explanations from her.

"Where do you think you're going, Christina?"

"Okabe!" Kurisu exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

He didn't respond to her astonishment; instead, he took his cell phone out and without making any calls, he put it next to his ear and began to recite some kind of monologue.

"It's me. It seems my assistant thought she could get the lab against me and go unnoticed, but she has failed. I'm going to check if the Organization has brainwashed her and she's been sent on a special mission to obtain..."

"Stop it with that nonsense!" she said, snatching the phone from his hand. Tell me, how did you know I was here?"

"Surprised, assistant?" he asked. "I admit that your incognito work had a great level, however, you must know that I have my own resources to get information from."

"Wait, have you been stalking me?"

Makise Kurisu raised her voice and a couple of pedestrians turned to see what was happening, commenting in a low voice among them. Okabe, meanwhile, took his phone back and grabbed her by the coat again, making them step away into a corner to talk in private.

Kurisu insisted more than once on knowing how he had found her residence. She firmly demanded knowing until he had no choice but to give her an explanation:

"I found Rukako and Mayuri secretly talking about when your plane would land and feeling bad that they couldn't go get you. It didn't take much of my persuasive techniques for both of them to confess that you were coming sneakily. I saw you at the station, but you left in a rush and I just managed to catch up with you now. That's how it all went down, happy now?"

"You followed me? Do you know that I can accuse you of harassment?"

He tried to play deaf to her threat.

"I wouldn't have to do it if you didn't run like someone was chasing you. I even thought you were in danger."

"I was, wasn't I? A perverted man in a lab coat followed me" Kurisu replied. "But for your information, I ran because I wanted to arrive fast to the building. I wanted to drop my bag, shower and order a…"

She suddenly stopped, why was she giving him explanations now? Her intention was to avoid him from the beginning.

"Wait. I don't have to tell you anything. You shouldn't be here, so leave now."

"Was wrong with you Christina?" he responded, insulted. "Some days ago, you told everyone you were coming, but me. Tell me what your problem is, and you won't have to worry about me following you ever again."

Okabe felt that Kurisu was acting more aggressive than normal and that bothered him. He was used to her not being very friendly towards him, but he at least expected her to be a little happier to find him there.

"There's no 'tina'! And I wasn't planning on seeing you just yet, that's it."

"Do you admit that you were hiding from me intentionally, member 004?"

"Well, if that's what you want to know, maybe I was in fact avoiding you..." she confessed, deviating her eyes away from him.

"Ha! I'm afraid that the brainwashing affected you more than what I thought, but who needs to see a miserable assistant after all?"

The mad scientist crossed his arms and turned his back on her. He didn't leave, but his body language announced that he was waiting for some kind of apology.

"Okabe, did you get mad?"

The question was unnecessary, since the answer was obvious. But more than angry, Okabe was offended for being ignored in such a way.

Kurisu could have let it go and left him there. She was already in front of the building, she only needed to go in to end the argument. But she couldn't leave the situation the way it was, or they would've probably stopped talking for a long while. Both were stubborn and prideful: the conflict would extend for weeks, if at least this time, she didn't try to fix it.

"Fine! I'll explain why I didn't tell you anything" she said. "You're in college and it's Sunday afternoon. I'm sure you have something to read before your next seminar or an assignment to finish this week. That's why I thought it wasn't necessary for you to know it, I was going to contact you when it was a good time. I was planning to go to the lab anyway."

"Nice try, but my schedule is top secret and not even the best agent could access it" Okabe answered, turning around. "Your job as a lab member is to think about the creation of future gadgets, not to speculate about my agenda."

"Don't you really have anything to do?"

He showed her a crooked grin.

"A genius with a 170 IQ like me doesn't worry about trivialities like those."

Okabe Rintarou was 20 years old and a junior in college. He probably did have assignments pending, but instead of focusing on school, the guy seemed more interested in whatever was happening with the lives of the lab members.

Had he done this trip all the way there because he wanted to see her? Kurisu didn't want to think about it. He had his ow life; she knew it well. He needed to take charge of his responsibilities, otherwise, he'd never mature and continue acting like a Chuunibyou for many more years.

"Okabe, enough, stop wasting your time here" she said with her hand on her head. "A guy your age should apply himself more or you'll never get to graduate. Do us both a favor and leave already."

He didn't seem interested in leaving, so she had to insist about it.

"Besides, I'm really exhausted now because the trip was longer than what I expected. It doesn't make sense to argue, I promise if you leave, I'll tell you everything later."

Okabe uncrossed his arms and seemed to forget his anger at once. In the face of that comment, it didn't make sense to insist on staying there. He noticed that Kurisu looked tired and he didn't want to make her more uncomfortable than necessary.

"Fine assistant, I'll do what you wish" he acceded. "But in return I need you to keep your eyes open. Even if we're in the Steins;Gate worldline, we can't dismiss the fact that evil is watching us. The Organization must be tracking this place too, perhaps before leaving I could..."

Helping her with her luggage and inspecting the security of the place, that's what he offered. Despite Kurisu's determination that he must leave, Okabe had the need to extend their encounter a little longer, although he wouldn't openly say it. He could at least be useful to her: the suitcase looked heavy for the stairs she had to take. It'd be much easier to carry that than to try to carry a 50 lbs. IBN together.

Kurisu panicked thinking about Okabe going into her new home and being alone with her, so she immediately rejected the offer. If by any chance he was thinking about trying to touch her or kiss her, she wouldn't have the needed sense or strength to reject him or ask for help in her actual state of mind. It was a very dangerous situation.

However, why would Okabe try something like that? He might be a pervert sometimes, but he had always been respectful when they were alone in the lab. Why would it be any different this time? Could it be that she wanted it to be different? No, she wasn't a pervert at all.

The suitcase was really heavy, and she had to take many floors. Kurisu was tired, and despite following her, Okabe was now being nice, so she could accept his help. Perhaps she could invite him in. Perhaps they had time to drink a Dk. Pepper together, perhaps she could give him advice about his college assignments, perhaps they could then order some dinner, perhaps they could stay chatting for some hours, perhaps it'd get too late and the trains would stop working, perhaps he wouldn't have any other option but to stay the night, perhaps...

"Don't worry, I can fight against the Organization or any of your delusions by myself" she finally responded.

The conversation ended there, and she watched as he was leaving back to the station, wondering for a long while if that had been the right decision.

She suddenly remembered that she was still on the street. At the entrance of the building people looked at her every once in a while, asking her indirectly if she was going to enter or not. She woke up from her lethargy and asked the person in charge for the apartment key. She went upstairs, cursing about the fact she had to carry all on her luggage by herself. Maybe making Okabe leave wasn't the best choice, but it was too late to regret it.

Once inside, she confirmed that despite not being a fancy place, it was very decent. It came furnished with all the basic needs and most of all, as she requested, a western style full size bed.

She dropped her suitcase on the side and tried the shower to get refreshed. After getting out, she ordered some food and laid down in bed. She called her mom; her mom asked her about her flight, about the apartment and advised her to sleep and eat well, like a good mother does. Next, she sent Maho-senpai a message, who was surely sleeping by now. She got her response quick.

_«Hiyajo Maho:_

_Bothersome as always, kohai._

_Remember that we don't want you back without a boyfriend, so have fun. »_

Kurisu decided to ignore the message; what was wrong with her senpai? She'd have fun doing experiments, like always, she didn't need a boyfriend for that. Instead, she'd rather think about the good opportunities that awaited her.

Through pictures, the Neurotechnology Research Laboratory seemed an agreeable place. She'd work full time every weekday and, on the weekends, she'd visit the Future Gadget Lab. She'd feel comfortable there too, although Okabe would call her irritating nicknames. He had already called "Christina" and "assistant" many times that day.

Among the technologies she wanted to try, there were some derived from the Visual Rebuilding Technology, developed previously in Victor Chondria. Thoughts could be transformed into virtual images and vice versa, but there were certain limitations in practice when it came to the unconscious cerebral processes. She would probably need volunteers in order to perfectionate it. Daru would be a bad choice, since everything that was in his head was surely perverted. But what was in Okabe's mind? Undoubtedly a bunch of nonsense.

There were direct train routes from Wako to Ikebukuro. Mayuri lived in the latter and perhaps Kurisu could visit her after work. It was also the same neighborhood where Okabe lived and maybe she could stop by and say hi as well. What did his room look like? It surely was a mess, full of porn magazines and things like that. She didn't care about what type of likes he had either.

Her stomach made loud noises: despite eating dinner, she was still hungry. Her mother told her to eat well, but she really wanted to buy her favorite pudding. She'd buy a bunch at the store and take some to have in Akihabara. She could write her name on them, but that wouldn't stop Okabe from eating them.

That was the way her thoughts went one after the other. Where would she wash her clothes? Okabe. What will she have for breakfast the next day? Okabe. What materials did she need for her experiments? Okabe. Okabe here, Okabe there. Okabe Rintarou came back to her thoughts time after time and trying to force him out of her head, she smothered her face with her pillow to the point of running out of air to breath.

"AH!" She screamed, letting a big puff out. "It's a lie, this can't be happening!"

She tried to continue lying to herself about what was happening.

"I can't really be in love with that idiot! Proof! I need some proof!"

She made one last effort: she'd think about Okabe, this time on purpose, to prove to herself that she didn't feel anything for him other than pure friendship. She'd convince herself that she didn't want to be with that idiot, that she didn't want to spend alone time with him, that she didn't want to be his girlfriend, that she wasn't interested in physical contact, that she didn't, she didn't, she didn't...

As soon as the figure of the mad scientist showed up in her memory, Kurisu understood that she had to give up already.

Serotonin, oxytocin, dopamine and endorphins filled her brain when she called his name, her heart beat at an accelerated rhythm, repeating his name. The symptoms and physiological reactions when she thought about his closeness were so obvious that they couldn't be ignored any longer.

Her senpai was right: she wasn't only in love, but absolutely crazy about Okabe Rintarou. Denying it was not wanting to accept reality and that wasn't proper for a good scientist.

She stayed like that for a long while thinking while looking at the ceiling. Now that she had accepted it, what would she have to get out of that state? Confessing would be the most logical and rational thing to do in her situation, or her brain wouldn't leave her alone.

What was the probability of having her feelings reciprocated? She didn't know exactly.

If she confessed her feelings, there existed the possibility of being rejected. It wouldn't be satisfactory at all, in fact, it would surely hurt. But for a good scientist, even a negative result was a useful result. She'd at least have an answer and she wouldn't live any longer on that cloud of speculation and fantasy that surrounds the feelings of love.

On the other hand, there also existed the possibility of being reciprocated and that, perhaps, was more terrifying than being rejected. It meant their relationship wouldn't be the same as before.

What did Okabe feel?

A strange dream disturbed Kurisu: it didn't occur often, but it tended to happen every so many months, especially after having traveled to Japan. In it, Okabe seemed to confess something about romantic feelings towards her and they kissed. Or rather, Kurisu kissed him and after, she received some kind of persuasion from Okabe to repeat it over and over. Finally, it ended abruptly, and she would wake up.

But _something_ with that dream was _wrong, very wrong_. She felt as if a terrible event was about to happen after that moment. She believed she was sad, and Okabe's face didn't seem to show he was feeling any better. When she tried to remember what they had been talking about a moment before kissing, her mind got a blockage, like trying to prevent her to access a very painful memory.

The mad scientist asserted that dreams were memories from other worldlines; she still didn't know what to believe about it.

After meeting him, she found out through the lab members that Okabe was being treated for PTSD. They said he had paranoia attacks when they were on the street, particularly, when he saw people wearing strange clothes or acting suspiciously. He also didn't let Mayuri get close to any platforms until after the trains opened their doors, according to him, from fear that she could be pushed into the rails. He also reacted with panic in the presence of blood.

Kurisu felt responsible, since she believed that his strange attitude was her fault. Okabe had been stabbed by her father and that must've left a deep impression in his mind.

She didn't understand what Okabe was doing there at the moment her father attacked her, but he explained to her that he knew that would occur, and that's why he had traveled in time to save her. To convince her about it, he showed her as evidence the date of his hospitalization check-in: August 21st, 2010. The conference and incident with Nakabachi happened on July 28th. Kurisu remembered it well, because she had made a police report the same day.

It was logical to think that the events were out of the ordinary. A person can't be stabbed one day and then live in that state up until being taken to the hospital and getting a surgery three weeks after, without bleeding out in the process. But the only witnesses of that temporal imbalance of events were Kurisu and her father. Daru and Mayuri only remembered finding Okabe in Radio's Kaikan's roof in August, and then calling the ambulance, without knowing who had been responsible for the incident.

Given the solid evidence, Kurisu had to at least accept the possibility that a machine like the one Okabe described could've existed and he could've used it. She had written a theoretical paper about the subject, presenting the possibility.

One thing was traveling back in time and another was believing that it was definite proof that the multiverse existed. That is to say, more than just the trip, Okabe also talked to her not only about the regression, but about a lateral displacement. One that involved the total alteration of the physical reality as they knew it, and even the replacement of everyone's memories. Strangely, the only one with the ability to verify the change was Okabe: a big coincidence at a statistical level, almost one in a million or more.

He didn't want to give her more evidence of the mechanism of a worldline shift, and neither he accepted her proposal to search together for an objective way to prove them. Okabe insisted that they were now living in the "Steins;Gate" and that was enough.

But if her strange dream wasn't only that, and if they had really kissed in another worldline, why didn't he ever tell her? if he did have that _Reading Steiner_ thing or whatever it was called and could remember everything, why didn't he ever mention it or even hint her about it?

Had he forgotten it already? Had the feelings he confessed to her been temporary? Wasn't it necessary anymore to consider what happened? Wasn't he interested about it any longer?

A thought crossed her mind and it bothered her.

"After all, he has plenty to choose from, right? He's surrounded by pretty women" she said to herself irritated. "Fairis-san, Kiryu-san, even Urushibara-san also admired him a lot."

Even though Urushibara was a guy, but so what? She wouldn't even be surprised if Hashida Itaru ended in love with Okabe as well. It seemed it was part of the mad scientist's personality to attract others, and he felt pleased with the big number of lab members. He had even added Maho to the list.

Especially his self-named "hostage" loved her dear "Okarin". Although she didn't talk about her feelings, Kurisu believed those were evident:

"Mayuri-chan has to be in love with him, it would foolish to think otherwise."

They were childhood friends; they had a story together. Mayuri had been the first lab member after he founded it. Who knows how many moments they had spent alone. It was Mayuri who stayed by his side all the time and who supported him when it was needed. Even when he was in the hospital, she didn't leave his side, and with her support he managed to overcome the PTSD symptoms.

Kurisu couldn't do that, because the only thing she knew how to do was to argue with the man whom now she admitted being in love with. Besides, she lived at the other side of the Pacific Ocean.

"Thinking about it, it would be selfish to confess before Mayuri does" she reproached herself.

Shiina Mayuri was a good girl, the kind that would turn into a caring girlfriend. The kind that waits for her boyfriend with a smile always on her face. She wouldn't have any issues expressing her feelings once she took that step.

She didn't think that Okabe would be able to reject Mayuri's feelings either. Having a girlfriend could be a good motivation for him; Kurisu trusted that, behind that mad scientist's façade he used to distract her, there was a man that cared for his wellbeing. Maybe getting into a relationship would make him reflect about himself and would help him think about having real things to offer. Perhaps it would get the best out of him.

But if Okabe and Mayuri became a couple, it would be hard to get over it for Kurisu. She now knew that she also wanted that spot: she wanted to be with Okabe. Leaving her annoying tsundere ways aside which were part of her personality; in other words: being honest with herself.

Even then, how could she rob her friend from the happiness of being with the man she loved? Plus, could she even be a better girlfriend than Mayuri? Perhaps destiny would choose them as a couple, and with time Kurisu could accept seeing them together and be happy for them.

She made a decision: she'd talk about the subject with Mayuri. She'd tell her to confess to Okabe first, because she had that right. But if she was wrong, if Mayuri didn't feel what Kurisu thought, Kurisu will finally feel free to confess to Okabe without any remorse.

And whatever happened, happened.

Despite clearing her mind, she couldn't sleep. It had to be the jetlag effect, because despite being late, her organism felt it was early. She then entertained herself with her pone, thinking she needed to send an apology.

Meanwhile, and hours before, Okabe Rintarou had taken the Tobu Toyo line to return to Ikebukuro. As soon as he arrived, he went to his room and his phone vibrated in his pocket:

_«Mayuri:_

_Okarin, did you manage to see Kurisu-chan as you wanted_ _(^_^)?_»

Makise Kurisu used to come and go from Japan to the United States and her visits were always short. That day, when Mayuri told him that Kurisu was there, he, without thinking, marched towards Wako.

He achieved his goal to see her, but despite managing to do it, he wasn't pleased.

_«Hououin Kyoma:_

_I got member 004 visual confirmation, she seems to be in good health, although I have serious suspicious that her head was brainwashed by the Organization. »_

_«Mayuri:_

_Eh! Someone washed Kurisu's-chan head without her wanting it? I hope she doesn't get sick (._.)»_

Okabe couldn't accept the excuse she had given him: it would've been simpler to tell him from the beginning that she didn't have time or felt like seeing him, but intentionally ignoring him? Letting everyone know that she'd come but him? That had been a cruel maneuver, even for a tsundere.

However, he believed that Kurisu enjoyed being in the Future Gadget Labe and because of that, she always came back. He trusted that she'd always come back. He expected her to always come back.

He wished that she always came back.

The future of a totally unknown place now, but he was willing to accept whatever had to happen. After all, that was the choice of Steins;Gate.

Hours went by but he couldn't sleep.

He needed the rest for his school routine, but he couldn't seem to find a remedy. So, to not continue thinking of his assistant, he spent some time looking at channel.

In the occultism forum there were people that talked about how an ancient civilization had predicted the end of the world for the end of the current year. Bunch of nonsense: the world would end when Hououin Kyouma arranged it.

What caught his attention was a person that assured that SERN was having problems with the LHC. This continued to be active, but a round of experiments had ruined the equipment and an option to put it out of commission to repair it was being evaluated. The person that initiated the conversation said he was a relative of one of the scientists that worked in the place and claimed with confidence that the damage was important and maybe, irreparable.

Without the LHC, would it be the end of SERN? Okabe didn't want to get his hopes up. For now, he trusted on his lack of knowledge camouflage, and believed he could manage to live a peaceful life without getting involved with them.

A sudden message interrupted him:

_«Assistant:_

_I'm sorry I didn't appropriately tell you I was coming, Okabe. »_

He smiled to himself: she was actually apologizing.

He knew he had to respond fast.

_«Hououin Kyouma:_

_Apology accepted Christina. As for me, you can believe I won't allow anybody to stalk you or chase you without your approval, me included. »_

Admitting a mistake wasn't showing weakness, on the contrary: it was evidence of wisdom.

Plus, he didn't want to stay mad at her.

_«Assistant:_

_I'm very happy to read that._

_You know, I'm doing a research internship in Wako. You understand, is normal in the field, spending time in different labs exchanging techniques, knowledge and stuff like that. »_

He had never had the opportunity to do an exchange, but he believed that the situation was a good fit for Kurisu, who with her recognition and ability, was always welcome in other labs, particularly in his.

_«Assistant:_

_My stay will last until new year. I'll be very busy with the experiments, but luckily, I'll have weekends free to visit you all. »_

Three whole months? That was a longer amount of time than what she used to stay in Japan.

It was definitely great news.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**Genetic Inheritance**

_Monday, October 1st, 2012_

Makise Kurisu was finishing setting her belongings in the RIKEM, when she was told that she wouldn't work alone.

"Nice meeting you, Makise-sensei!" a young red-haired man greeted her. "My name is Usui Keitarou. I hope to learn a lot from you."

The young man's hands and legs shook because he couldn't handle the strange feeling that encounter gave him. He hadn't realized the meaning of traveling to the past: the obsolete technology, the out of style fashion, the city's different air, none of those things made him understand. Not until seeing in person his own mother's younger face.

At that moment, he feared that his plan could crumble. She was taking too long to respond to the greeting, as if she had a troubling issue in mind. Did she recognize him? Was she mad? Would she reproach him for having stolen a time machine she had designed? For traveling to the past to spy on her?

No, there was no way to expose him: it was years before he was born. Even then, Keitarou respected her, feeling guilty for lying about his identity.

Kurisu simply limited herself to look at the young man with curiosity. She couldn't clearly see his face because he had bowed when greeting her; instead, she observed the long lab coat he wore. It had a yellowish tint and it was worn out, as if it had been intensively used for several years. Just by looking at it she knew it was of the style and size she brought Okabe in the United States, to gift it to him last Christmas.

Okabe wore it all the time, even the previous day. It meant that he really liked it. That year, instead of exchanging presents, they could go out together and have some fun. Or wasn't that something that Japanese couples did...? But no, before thinking about that possibility, she needed to talk to Mayuri about who would confess first. There was also Okabe's opinion to be heard, would he want to go out? She didn't think he was the type of guy that preferred spending Christmas Eve playing boardgames at home or watching anime, was he?

Doctor Yamagata, who was the head of the Neurotechnology Research laboratory and who introduced them, made a head movement towards the woman for her to respond already. Kurisu then noticed that she had gotten distracted thinking about Okabe while the young "Usui" waited on his bowed position, nervous due to the long pause.

"Nice meeting you too, Usui-san. I hope we can work well together." She courteously said.

Once the introduction was over, Keitarou relaxed.

His infiltration had been a success: she didn't seem to suspect his true identity. Instead, Yamagata didn't seem convinced with his presence.

"It looks like this guy finished college in the United States and at 17. He was admitted into the Institute's Junior program and assigned to this laboratory to work with us. This happened so fast and in such an unusual time, that it looks like it came out of nowhere." The man said while reading thoughtfully the sheet with the information of the newcomer. "Anyway, I asked the other members if they wanted to take charge to integrate him, but they all said they were busy with their projects. Do me a favor and keep him with you, Makise-san, if not, I'd have to send him back to the Americans, ho-ho-ho!"

Yamagata Shouhei was a short height man, with gray hair, glasses and a big belly. Due to his appearance and his strange laugh, he obtained the nickname of "Santa Claus of the Japanese Science." All the members of the lab were used to his eccentric personality, but his last laughs took Makise Kurisu and Usui (former Okabe) Keitarou off guard.

When he finished laughing, the scientist noticed the violaceous-blue eyes that were looking at him with confusion. He realized it wasn't common for two Japanese people to share such pigmentation, and with the perspicacity of a person that has dedicated all his life to nature's research, he asked them:

"Wait a moment, you don't see two red-haired gifted people every day. Are you related?"

Keitarou knew that what the man guessed wasn't a delirium. The production and distribution of melanin is an offspring's transmittable characteristics. Knowing that principle, it wasn't extraordinary at all that a mother and a son shared the same eye and hair color. It was a matter of genetic inheritance.

He doubted his answer, but Kurisu went ahead of him:

"I don't remember having a relative with the Usui surname." She said.

"I don't have a family member named Makise either." He added.

"It's better this way!" Yamagata exclaimed. "It'd be a shame that the intelligence was kept in certain families, there would be too little for the rest of us. Now, go to work, ho-ho-ho!"

While seeing him walk away, Kurisu felt that she had the honor to meet the great Anzai-sensei in person, while Keitarou wondered if instead of Usui he should've picked Sakuragi as his surname. With the introductions and unnecessary references finished, they were finally alone.

She looked at the unknown young man she'd work with and thought that it'd be good for the coexistence to get to know him better.

"Well, Usui-san, Yamagata said that you come from the United States, are you half-American?"

For Keitarou, the person he had in front of him was the woman from whom he received 22 autosomes, an allosome and all his mitochondrial DNA. The first person he met and with who he lived the longest part of his life. But she couldn't recognize him.

He believed that, while he controlled the contents of his words, there wouldn't be an issue giving her some information.

"No, both of my parents are Japanese, but we live overseas since I was a kid. I did my schooling there."

"What did you study in college?" Kurisu asked afterwards.

"I took several courses in advanced physics, but my specialization field is neuroscience. I did my final project in that area."

"He also said you graduated at 17."

"That's right, although I turned 18 in July."

Kurisu thought for a moment about what she heard.

"That's intriguing, it seems like you and I have some things in common."

"You think so? But it must be a coincidence, Makise-sensei."

Keitarou couldn't blame the genetic inheritance from his erroneous academical choices. Those were the decision of a confused teenager whom took his mother as an example to follow.

That didn't need an explanation at that moment.

"So, what brought you back to Japan?" Kurisu continued asking.

"I had some friends in Tokyo and I wanted to be close to them..."

The so-called friends weren't more than a single childhood friend. Although in the future he never told his mother about his feelings for Hashida Suzuha.

"...so, I moved to Ikebukuro with my grandparents." He added after.

"Ikebukuro? Do you live there?"

Keitarou realized his slip.

"Did I say Ikebukuro? I meant Itabashi! Yes, it's there were I live now."

He had gotten carried away from the familiarity and had given more information than necessary. He needed to be more careful.

Despite the correction, when looking at the face of the boy, Kurisu believed for an instant to have in front of her the 18-year-old young man in a lab coat and from Ikebukuro that she met two years ago. She soon realized that wasn't the case, and before getting carried away thinking about Okabe again, she decided to concentrate on keeping the conversation going.

"It's strange to me that I never heard of you, Usui-san, what was your research about?"

"Well, it was about..." He began to wonder if he should respond or not. "...about the recovery of memories in an model of amnesia."

"That sounds interesting. What magazine published the results? I'm surprised I haven't read it yet." Kurisu commented.

Did he have to confess that the work was published in a magazine with a low impact factor, so it went notoriously unnoticed by the scientific community? She'd find out sooner or later.

"The work wasn't that good, and it didn't have any repercussions. I'm not surprised you didn't notice it." He responded, a little disappointed on himself.

"It's a shame to hear that, but I'd like to read it anyway, could you give me a copy?"

"I'll send you one later."

But he wouldn't do it. The paper was dated in 2035, so it was out of any possibility.

"Who was your lab director? Perhaps I know the person."

Would he tell her that his lab director was an expert in the field of artificial intelligence and computational neuroscience? And that she was a known person in his family, with a peculiar height and personality?

No, if he continued responding, the curiosity of that woman would make her want even more and more. Like that, they would soon arrive to the point where he'd have to also tell her that his father was an inventor, his sister a type of informatics prodigy, and his mother... it'd be evident who she was.

He must finish the interrogatory.

"I belonged to a small group and I don't think you know my supervisor." He answered in a rush. "On the other hand, you are very famous in the field. Instead of continuing talking about me, I'd like to know what you have to teach me, Makise-sensei."

"Wait, Usui-san, I don't think it's correct that you call me 'sensei'." Kurisu interrupted. "I mean, I haven't finished my PhD and it feels weird to be called that."

"I apologize, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable!"

Once again, the familiarity had played against him. In the future, all her students used to call her "Makise-sensei," indistinctly of their nationality. It was a type of custom in the University that even her son respected, but it had been a mistake to use it with such anticipation.

"Is it okay if I call you Makise-senpai?"

When hearing that word, a known person with a particular height and character came to the mind of Kurisu. The mental image made her shiver when remembering her warning: _We don't want you back without a boyfriend._

"To be honest, I'm also new here." She responded looking around. "Makise-san will be good enough for me."

He could only shake his head in response. He was afraid to ruin it and call her "mom" instead, but he'd control himself as much as he could.

Kurisu felt a vibration inside her clothes.

"I suppose we must stop the chat; we have pending work." She said, repeatedly touching her pocket. "What if we start calibrating the equipment? Do you know how to do it, Usui-san?"

"Yes! I'll do it right away, Makise-san!"

The young man went straight to accomplish his task.

But before following after him, Kurisu took a moment to get her phone out and answer the RINE message she had just received.

* * *

_Friday, October 5th, 2012_

Being Friday afternoon, Makise Kurisu concluded the last round of experiments. She stretched her arms, and she then walked towards her partner, who was tasked with registering the results.

"Well, how many do we have with the last one?" She asked.

"698 total." Keitarou responded, reading the screen. "236 in the first and second groups and 231 in the remaining one."

"That'll be enough to start."

It was a sample of a considerable size, suitable to make a good statistical comparison. She stopped for a moment to think about the number: she didn't remember having collected such a number of experimental data on her own before. But now that she had access to a partner with the capacity to keep up with her rhythm, the intensive work of that week was finished faster than she believed possible.

Kurisu was used to working alone. People was afraid of her due to her status as being a prodigy girl and therefore they ran away from her, but she must admit that this new experience working in a team was being satisfactory.

The young Usui worked in an software with the obtained numbers. Kurisu hadn't asked him to do anything in particular, so intrigued about what he was doing, she got closer to him.

Keitarou, who knew her well enough, didn't need her to ask him anything to inform her of what she wanted to know.

"I'm inspecting if there are any aberrant data, and verifying the type of distribution to apply the parametric tests."

Kurisu didn't respond to his comment. Instead, she dedicated him a prolonged look that reflected uncertainty.

He feared there was some kind of problem, otherwise, why was she looking at him that way?

"Excuse me, am I making a mistake, Makise-san?" He asked.

"No, you're doing well. Please continue."

She moved away, but didn't stop looking at him while thinking: what was it? what was special about Usui Keitarou that reminded her so much of Okabe Rintarou when looking at him straight? There were similarities between them? If that was the case, which ones?

But there was the possibility that the issue wasn't anything but a feeling of hers. They were two different people.

Usui Keitarou was respectful and educated in his treatment. As a lab partner, he had surpassed her personal expectations: they understood each other well. He was always willing to do the work, knew all the procedures and could get ahead of the steps to follow. He was well trained in the everyday tasks of a scientist, perhaps because he had been under the supervision of a good director.

Even then, at times, the young man acted insecure under her presence. She felt he called her "mom" once, although he fixed it immediately. Other times, he didn't react to his surname, as if he wasn't being called. There were times when he became nervous when they talked about everyday things, or when she reminded him to send her a copy of his paper. Perhaps he was timid with his previous work because he had avoided talking about it.

On the other hand, Okabe Rintarou fancied being a "mad scientist," role that he executed under the ridiculous alias "Hououin Kyouma." With his eccentric personality and many times obnoxious, Okabe tended to express his opinion about the subjects that interested him, even when he didn't have the theoretical knowledge needed to defend his arguments. Every time they debated about science, Kurisu ended giving him a beating, perhaps as a revenge from the rain of nicknames she received.

Okabe wasn't organized either when it came to make experiments: he didn't care about writing reports of the results, not even taking into account that he ignored most of the statistical models, proper of quantitative research. He tended to skip or reorder the steps of the scientific method at his whim and when the Future Gadgets Lab had a project, almost always its execution fell under Hashida Itaru or Kurisu, who solved the technical obstacles.

But she didn't deny that he sometimes had very good ideas. Specially, his great strength resided in having a big conviction, and not giving up easily when facing a problem. But these were compliments that she didn't dare say to him in person.

In that moment, they had an active discussion through RINE, discussion that they couldn't solve throughout the week. Now that Kurisu had finished her part of the job, she could take a little break to use her phone.

Keitarou, for his part, continued on his task without many emotions and making an effort to resist quitting every moment. He did his work rapidly, not because it was the right step to make, but with the goal to finish that torturous chore. He thought he could finish soon, but when examining one by one the numbers they had gotten, he began to feel that things weren't going well. It didn't seem that only a couple of data were wrong, but that all of them had a certain dispersive charge that, in theory, shouldn't exist.

He got up to revise the machine with which they performed the experience: no, the error wasn't in the apparatus' initial calibration that Keitarou did, nor in the adjustment parameters. The blame seemed to be that his mother had used it in an incorrect way. Yamagata had warned them that one of the two sensors that the machine had was broken and it tended to give deviated values, higher as much as lower than the real one. She had used that sensor instead of the one that worked correctly. Due to the lack of consistency with which the measurements deviated, it'd be difficult to correct the problem. Even if they tried it, the numbers wouldn't represent that which in reality they wanted to measure.

In conclusion: the experiment couldn't be saved. It had been a week of wasted work in a bunch of useless results. A total failure. A waste. The only alternative was to do it all from the beginning.

"Is there something going on with the data?" Kurisu asked from her seat when looking at the young man's worried look.

"No, it's nothing!" Keitarou answered rapidly. "Everything is in order, Makise-san."

She went back to her phone conversation.

To him, it was better to hide it, he didn't want to do the 698 practices again. Thinking about repeating the experience would be a nightmare.

He hadn't traveled back to the past with the intention to work in a lab, he would've even preferred that Hashida Suzuha forced him to practice with her bungee jump in the _Tokyo Sky Tree_. Moreover, why did he make the mistake of studying neuroscience in the first place? Hiyajo-sensei had warned him: he'd never become anything chasing another person's shadow, specially one as big as his mother's.

His only goal by staying next to her was to watch everything she'd been doing around that time. But none of that had any relationship with the anonymous future gadget and the unknown experiment he expected to find.

Plus, the scientific work they were conducting didn't really matter: he knew beforehand that it would fail. It was printed in his mother's personal history, who told him that her research experience in Wako had been the worst of her career. Although he would've wanted to help avoid it, it was probable that the world line where they were would converge again and something else would fail after, arriving most of the times at the same conclusion.

But beyond destiny's caprice, Keitarou wondered why she couldn't realize the problem on her own.

His mother was a high level and very respected scientist by her equals in the future due to her sharp sense when it came to do research. These kinds of mistakes weren't proper of her, rather, they look like the belonged to the work of an amateur.

She wasn't completely focused on what she was doing, so perhaps she didn't pay attention to Yamagata's initial warning. Every time she had the chance, she typed a message and after she checked her phone over and over. She waited eagerly for a reply.

"Eh! What is wrong with this idiot now?" Kurisu exclaimed in a high voice after reading the message that her phone had received. "Does he want me to turn his hippocampus into a flower base?"

The scientists that were present in the lab turned around to look at her in the face of the exclamation, but she didn't seem interested in anyone other than the person on the other side of the screen.

For Keitarou, there was no doubts about the identity of the interlocutor: it was the person from whom he had inherited 22 autosome chromosomes, plus a sexual chromosome of the type Y, his second biological progenitor. They were in touch.

Around that time, his father wasn't more than an average college student, like so many Japanese citizens. What was special about him for a genius like his mother to give his madness so much attention? Keitarou didn't understand. But he knew that she and that man would have a son in six years, product of divergency's fate.

Even with that, three more years had to go by before they married. A little after they'd have a daughter, although she'd happen without them being able to avoid it. From that moment on, the Okabe family would be complete, and they would keep their marriage working for 15 more year, at least, up until the day their children steal the time machine.

That's what that worldline had waiting for her.

"Makise-san, can I say you something?"

Kurisu raised her head and paid attention to him.

"Yes, tell me, what is it about?"

Hashida Suzuha reproached him for giving too much importance to the fact that his parents weren't married when he was born. Why did it matter anyway? Did that make any difference? She knew that Makise Kurisu and Okabe Rintarou loved their son, even when he suffered from strange amnesias.

But Suzuha didn't really know the secrets of the Okabe family. Secrets that Keitarou could reveal to the person that, in that moment, attentively waited to hear whatever he had to say.

He could tell her that the family problems would begin before he was born, in theory, at some point during the current year. Everything due to an experiment that Okabe Rintarou would do, probably with the help of his "assistant." An event so strange and inexplicable that it would alter the quantum spacetime as it was known, and with that, the future.

_He_ would never try to fix it and wouldn't let anyone else try. _He_ would defend that position, calling it "the choice of Steins; Gate."

Despite Makise Kurisu being indifferent to the changes in the world lines, she'd have to be on charge of a family that wouldn't be one. Her descendance would carry that genetic phenomena called "_Reading Steiner"_ and that would mark her own destiny as well.

His mother insisted that she didn't regret her decisions. That she accepted her reality as it was: the problems they had weren't as serious, nor impossible to manage. After all, every family has its peculiarities.

But Keitarou knew that her version from the past had the opportunity to choose again.

If he explained to her what it meant to be a member of the Okabe family, if he explained to her the way they lived their life in the future, perhaps this time, she'd prefer to take a different route. An unknown one, but maybe easier.

Keitarou wouldn't blame her for that. It'd be logical if that was the case.

"Usui-san, did you want to tell me something?"

Kurisu began to get impatient with the sudden mutism from his interlocutor.

"It's nothing Makise-san. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bother you." He responded.

Telling her the truth could change everything, but better not rush into taking steps that couldn't be untaken.

He was in the past, so he could take the responsibility of fixing the future with his own hands. He just needed to find the right way to do it.

Kurisu looked confused: Usui was acting strange again. She wanted to ask him of the matter in that moment, but her eyes then went to the digital clock.

"I think it's time to go."

Both arranged their working stations, turned their equipment off and got their belongings. But before going their separate ways, she called him:

"By the way, Usui-san, I'd like to tell you something."

Keitarou moved his head to let her know he was listening attentively.

"You should switch that lab coat. It doesn't look good that a scientist wears such an old garment. It's really worn out and it's been stitched up with a pink thread." She said, pointing at his shoulder.

He looked towards the direction of her finger: she was right, it was pink.

He found that coat in his grandparents' house, it must've belonged to his father in the past. It wasn't that he wanted to "imitate" him as Hashida claimed, but he shared his same clothes size and he packed it for his trip because he didn't have another one available.

"I'll try to get a new one."

"It'll be better that way." Kurisu assented. "Let's continue with this working rhythm next week, agree?"

"Agreed, Makise-san."

She said good bye and left first. Moments later, Keitarou left the building. He waited until nobody else was around and took the lab coat off. He didn't like wearing it, it wasn't part of his personal style. Luckily, he had with him a bag with his black coat and the gloves that Hashida gifted him. Putting them on made him feel so much better.

It was late in the afternoon in Wako. They had worked for longer hours than he had imagined.

He left heading to Itabashi, where he rented an apartment to be close to the Institute. This was very small and didn't have more than a kitchen, a table and a futon. He couldn't afford any more amenities than those.

It was the first time he lived alone and didn't have to cook for other people like he used to. However, having diner like this felt lonely. Even when he spent all day with his mother, he didn't have the chance to share a meal with her, the way they'd do in the future.

After finishing washing his plate, he opened a Dk Pepper, while turning on the old telephone. It was a piece of ancient history that he didn't like to use from fear of breaking it, but it was time to know how his childhood friend was doing.

He pressed the option to make a videocall and waited until the line connected.

"Hello, Keitarou. You finally call us."

On the other side of the screen, there was the pixeled figure of Hashida Suzuha, with a cup of ramen in her hand. She seemed to be in a hotel room, and he could even make out his sister in a corner, looking at a type of board.

"Hello, Hashida-san. I'm glad to see you again."

He was really pleased to see her, because the figure of Suzuha in pajamas and without her distinctive braids was hard to witness. Like a legendary digital creature that was shown to only a few chosen ones; although due to the deficient call quality, perhaps it could be similar to finding MissingNo.

"You didn't respond to the messages and I was concerned about you." She scolded him. "We believed that something had happened to you and that you were crying in some corner."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worry you. I was busy and I just now can speak in peace."

"Interesting. Let me guess what you did all this time."

Before continuing, Suzuha slurped her last noodles and after cleaning her mouth, she meditated her response. When she believed she had the answer, she added:

"You spent your savings in a bunch of porn material, and you didn't have time to see it all. That was it, right?"

Keitarou almost spilled his drink when he heard her.

"You are mistaken, Hashida-san, you always are!" He protested. "And stop making those statements!"

Those type of comments were very upsetting, although perhaps Suzuha couldn't help to make them. It must be something in her genes. For her, perversion was a normal part of human nature.

"Fine, I'll try not to make them, but don't get mad about it." She defended herself. "If you didn't have time to call us is because you achieved your goal, am I wrong?"

"No, you're right this time. I spent the whole week in the RIKEM. Tell my sister that I thank her for helping me infiltrate."

Shizuka could probably hear them, but she didn't seem particularly interested in their conversation.

"Did you manage see your mom?"

"Not only did I manage to see her, but we were working together." He cleared.

"Really? I thought you only wanted to spy on her, but it seems you went straight to her."

It wasn't part of his objective being all the time next to her, but that's the way things turned out.

"Tell us Keitarou! How was aunt Kurisu in the past?"

Hashida Suzuha was excited about hearing his experience. Shizuka raised her head from the board to pay attention.

"I don't know how to explain it. I can feel she's the same of always, but the fact that she's younger confuses me." He indicated, meditating the issue. "At least, her scientific work is as intense as it is in the future, although the strangest part is that she's so distracted when she does it."

"Distracted? What do you mean?" Suzuha asked intrigued.

"She tends to be focused on whatever she does, but now she won't stop checking her phone all the time. I'm sure that she's talking with that man, you know, 'Hououin Kyouma.' It looks like he's the cause of her errors in this time."

Suzuha smiled on the other side of the screen when hearing the last part.

"That means that uncle Okarin and aunt Kurisu are very close in this time."

"I expected them to contact each other when mom went back to Japan. I tried to check her phone to find out what it is they're planning to do together, but I haven't had the chance. She doesn't leave her phone not even for a minute, she seems obsessed with checking it."

He could ask his sister to try to access it from a distance, but he wanted to do it on his own, like a true spy.

"It'd be fun to find out that they're actually sending each other love messages. I always had the feeling that they were very passionate in their younger years." Suzuha commented. "Who knows, if they're so affectionate, you could even have an older brother soon."

He got grossed out from the comment, what kind of nightmare was Hashida talking about? He couldn't image a more disgusting situation.

To him, his parents weren't more than two asexual beings that liked talking about science, creating future gadgets, and working the way any other pair of adults did. Furthermore, the moment that the universe decided for them to have a son, the stork intervened: a biotechnological bird of the highest level, able to mix genetic materials from both parents and turn in the final product in the shape of a human baby without any type of physical contact between them. He had been created that way, although he also felt that even the super intelligent birds could make some mistakes.

He also had the hypothesis that they found his sister in some kind of extraterrestrial mutant cabbage. But storks and cabbages were the most logical explanation.

Love messages were out of that scheme.

"They must be talking about a new future gadget. That's the most probable situation." He responded.

"That sounds boring." Suzuha protested.

For her part, Shizuka went back to work on her board.

"Hashida-san, do you know what's happening in the old lab? Perhaps they're working on what we're looking for."

Suzuha seemed dubious at the question. After a moment, she adventured to admit the truth.

"I'll be honest, I still don't know anything about the old lab. I haven't even confirmed its location."

Keitarou was surprised. More than a whole week had gone by and Akihabara wasn't such a big place to not haven't found it in that time.

"Could it be that the building was demolished?"

Perhaps it would've been better sending her to Ikebukuro to follow that man, although he believed it wasn't necessary.

"I'm pretty sure the building still exists, but I have an issue and that's why I haven't gone to the address your dad gave me."

"An issue? What is it?"

Silence took over the other side of the screen. Did the call drop? No, besides the bad quality, it was still working.

It was Suzuha that wasn't responding.

"Did something happen?"

"The truth is that…"

She was talking too long to finish the sentence, so long that he was beginning to worry.

"What happened? Something bad?" He insisted, without much success. "Please, tell me! Do you need my help?"

Suzuha was strong, but not completely invulnerable and he was getting worried.

"No, I'm fine." She responded and closed her eyes.

She decided to confess it all at once.

"But to tell the truth, I bought a bicycle and I got busy riding around all week. That's why I didn't search for the lab."

Her comment was followed by a prolonged silence. It was him who had become muted now.

"Come on, I know I made a mistake, but I couldn't help it." Suzuha explained while Keitarou kept on being quiet. "You have to understand me, riding a bike in the past is special, Tokyo looked like a whole new city. You should try it; exercising is very relaxing. I even thought of a couple of places we can visit together. Didn't you say we could have fun, did you?"

He sighed.

Even when he wanted to, he couldn't get mad at Hashida Suzuha. She was kind of right: they had traveled to the past together and they hadn't done anything other than playing videogames.

"Hashida-san, we'll ride a bike on the Great Chinese Wall if that's what you want, but before we need to finish our businesses in 2012. I don't want to stay in this time longer than needed."

"You're right, it wouldn't be good to stay too long here." She affirmed. "I could stop by the lab tomorrow, or do you prefer I give you the address so you can check it out yourself?"

"No, I'm sure that mom will be in Akihabara tomorrow. I don't want her to suspect I'm following her."

Now that they worked together, she could recognize him. If she started seeing him everywhere, he would surely get her attention.

But the real reason was to avoid running into his father.

"It'll be best that you find a way to infiltrate the place. I need you to watch the lab and also Okabe Rintarou, if it's possible, obtain all the information that you can about his plans."

Suzuha meditated the last part. She didn't seem very convinced with that task.

"Spying on uncle Okarin in the lab will be a very hard mission Keitarou. I mean, I can't simply knock on the door and say, 'hello, I'm a member from the future and I'd like to know what you're doing,' right?"

Doing that would be confessing it all, so it was out of the question.

"You're smart. I know you'll figure something out to trick him."

She seemed to doubt the task again, but he wanted to convince her at all costs.

The mission could fail if they didn't get ahead the exact moment where that machine had been created. After that, it could be too late.

"You are the most indicated person for this job. I'd give it to Shizuka, but she'd ruin it all." He didn't care if his sister could hear him. "I know I'm asking something strange, but I promise you I'll compensate you. If you succeed, we'll do whatever you want."

It was likely that they did that anyway, even if she denied it at that moment. Almost always, they did whatever she wanted, but he couldn't help it: after all, he was in love.

Suzuha resumed her usual happy expression.

"Okey-Dokey. If you ask like this, I'll find a way to infiltrate the lab and find out what they're designing. I give you my word as a Soldier."

The conversation could be taken as finished with the promise.

"You are the real spy, Hashida-san. I trust I can leave this issue in your hand."

"So, what are you gonna do now?" Suzuha asked.

"I have no doubt I'll find some new career._" _He affirmed with a strange accent. _"_See you, spacetime cowboy._"_

"See you, future child number 32." She responded.

The communication ended.

After putting his phone away, Keitarou tried to take another sip from his drink, but the Dk Pepper was already empty in his hands.

He hadn't noticed that he had been drinking nonstop. Although he didn't like admitting it, that guy was right: the older formula was better. When did the company have the bad idea to change its recipe? Somebody should stop it.

Without anything else to do that day, he took the singular pin he carried as an amulet out of his coat and laid down on the futon, watching it with the light that leaked through his window.

He couldn't deny it, he was curious to know what the famous "Future Gadget Lab" looked like. Not the symbolic in the future, but the physical one that Hououin Kyouma had founded in Akihabara in 2010.

The truth was that he couldn't remember anymore the last time he called that man "dad." It had to be a couple of years back, when they still chatted. Suzuha reproached him for refusing to talk to his father, he was being immature. A babyish _future child_.

But what his friend didn't understand was that it was some kind of an untold agreement between both men: neither Okabe Keitarou would speak to Okabe Rintarou, nor Okabe Rintarou would bother Okabe Keitarou.

Perhaps there was a time that existed where both could do things together as a father and son, but that was in the past.

Although relatively speaking, that hadn't happened yet.


	4. Chapter 4

**IMPORTANT: Fanfiction automatically deletes some characters and urls from the original text. If you want to read the full version, look for this same job in AO3  
**

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**Chapter 4**

**Round Table (and JumpingRabbit011)**

_Saturday, October 6th, 2012_

"Okarin, tuturu! We're here!"

A femenine figure entered the "Future Gadget Lab" spinning animatedly around using the bag she carried as counterweight.

"So-sorry for the delay." Another person followed behind, greeting everyone with a little shyness.

However, the atmosphere they witnessed once inside was distressing: "Okarin" was standing in the middle of the room arguing with a redheaded woman in front of him. Neither one of them seemed to pay any attention to what happened around.

Sitting in a chair with a boring face and his arms crossed was a young robust man, who raised a hand as a welcoming signal after seeing the guests. Next to him, the computer screen had been moved from its usual spot to face towards the center of the place. On it, the figure of a blond woman with glasses could be seen.

"Hello Moeka-san!" Mayuri greeted, raising her hand towards the screen.

The communication through Skipe included its microphone and behind the blonde woman, the ambient noises reached the lab speakers which indicated the clarity of the call. However, instead of responding in the same way in which she was greeted, a chat notification was heard:

_«Shining Finger:_

_Hello! So glad you arrived o(ω)o._

_The image of those two was starting to bore me.»_

"What's going on here Daru-kun?" Mayuri asked while sitting in her favorite spot on the couch and putting her bag on the side.

"The environment seems hostile." Ruka added, sitting next to her.

"Those two hard headed have spent a long while arguing, I believe they've broken their own record." He answered.

Again, the Skipe ring resounded in the room, announcing a new message:

«_Kiryu Moeka_:

I_t's been 37 minutes and it doesn't seem like they will reach an agreement (__＞﹏＜__).»_

Okabe Rintarou and Makise Kurisu continued being submerged into their dynamic and didn't give any signs that they would finish anytime soon. Then Hashida Itaru, already tired of hearing them, got up from his seat and yelled at them to catch their attention.

"Hey you two! If we want this to get hot, start taking your lab coats off. You look all sweaty already, hehe."

"Shut up you pervert!" The aforementioned exclaimed in unison.

"It's "perverted gentleman" for you! And finish with this now, it's become boring witnessing your tsundere courtship ritual."

They ignored the last part of the sentence, but noticed that everyone was watching them.

"Daru is right, it's time to end this. Admit your defeat , Christina." Okabe said, taking the lead.

"Ah? What nonsense are you going about now, Okabe?" Kurisu responded, determined not to give in. "And I remind you that there's no "tina" in my name."

"Damn it, you are a very problematic assistant."

She was about to reply to his comment, which would make that argument much longer. But Mayuri intervened first, getting in the space that separated them.

"Okarin, Kurisu-chan, please don't fight."

Both felt embarrassed with the situation: Mayuri's worried face denounced that things had taken a wrong turn and they had created an unnecessary scene.

Nonetheless, Okabe Rintarou was the first one to try to justify his attitude.

"I don't wish to fight, but as the lab member 001, it's my duty to defend the reputation of this institution. My assistant claims that this isn't a "real" lab and I want her to understand that if she doesn't like what we do, she shouldn't show her face around here."

"Is that true, Kurisu-chan? You don't like being in the lab with us?" Mayuri asked.

Makise Kurisu felt alarmed due to her friend's disappointed look.

"No Mayuri! That's not what I meant!" She then gave her masculine interlocutor a furious look. "Don't twist my words Okabe! She can misunderstand it all!"

However, he didn't add anything else. He felt very convinced.

"I'm simply trying to explain to Okabe Rintarou the differences between reality and his chuunibyou fantasies," Kurisu responded in her defense, "but it doesn't matter what I say, he refuses to listen to me."

The misunderstanding had begun the previous Sunday. That day, both had had an unfortunate encounter, which ended in a couple of apologies and an explanation about what she was doing in Japan.

Okabe Rintarou, with his optimism, answered the last message from Makisue Kurisu with the first thing that came to mind:

_«Hououin Kyouma:_

_It's good to hear you'll be on this side of the world, assistant, but if you wanted to work in a Japanese lab that badly, you should've talked to me. You could've asked me to have a full time residency in the Future Gadget Lab._

_It'd be good for you to consider it before the Organization recruits you first.»_

It wasn't logical to suppose that Kurisu could work full time in his lab creating "future gadgets" —basically the only purpose of the institution,— instead of neuroscience experiments in the RIKEM. But even so, Okabe's dream was for that possibility to exist: if it became a reality, he'd know where to find Kurisu all the time and although he'd have to go to the university, they could see each other at the place in his free time to talk about their future projects. Everything would be like he had dreamed: he appreciated the mind of the experiment loving genius girl, although he barely admitted to her.

Makise Kurisu didn't know what to make of such affirmation. She thought that Okabe's plan with that proposal was to enslave her to his whims, making her work in his ideas for free. Since the lab hadn't produced even a single useful invention, it lacked the economic resources to function, except for the monetary contributions from its members. The genius girl loved spending time in the place, but frequent it outside of vacation time, without anything productive to do and when everyone had obligations to take care of, was insane.

The best thing for her was to move ahead with her career in a serious lab and enjoy with them her free time.

_«Assistant:_

_Thanks for the tempting proposal, but I'm afraid I must reject it._

_Unfortunately, I can only do residencies in "real" labs. You know, those directed by true scientists and not by "mad scientists"_.»

Okabe didn't take the issue well.

"What did she mean by a "real" lab?" Where they just a lie? Although Hououin Kyouma admitted not being an ortodox scientist, affirming that his lab wasn't "real" was crossing a line that he wouldn't tolerate. Especially knowing that in the past they had managed to create something as grand as a time machine, even if no one else besides him could remember it.

That's how, contrary to the initial intention, what should've solved the conflict between them was the trigger for the RINE's whirl happening that week.

Okabe Rintarou responded to Makise Kurisu's messages contradicting her words. For her part, Makise Kurisu defended her thoughts and searched for arguments to show Okabe his lack of competence. All that could be solved by ignoring the issue or agreeing with the other, but neither one wanted to be the first one to give up.

Science, scientific method, rational thought, experimentation, invention, talent, the meaning of what reality was or wasn't… it didn't matter where the issue diverted. Both waited impatiently for the other to reply to write his/her next argument. Both interrupted what they were doing constantly —Okabe his university classes and Kurisu her work— to use the phone.

They continued on and on sending each other texts up until they took the issue face to face that same Saturday.

"Don't you know the phrase 'publish or perish?" Kurisu said, wanting to explain her point.

"Publish or Parish?" said Mayuri thinking about the meaning of that words.

"That sounds terrible!" Ruka added putting her hands over her mouth when imagining the issue.

"Well, it doesn't mean a death in the literal sense of the word." Kurisu clarified. "But it means that, if you don't manage a good quality production that is also cited by other colleagues, it'll be less probable that you can advance in your professional career."

Scientific research was in principle a social activity. Its correct functioning depended, among other factors, in the promotion of the works inside the academic community. The fever for the publication in prestigious magazines caused the members of the best labs to be subjected to a lot of pressure, and all of them must make a great effort to obtain original results before the same results were published by other groups. Everyone wanted to have the first news of the discoveries.

"If you can't face the pressure perhaps you won't be able to continue with your projects and you can find yourself forced to look for another job to survive. The risk exists, and for a scientist with vocation, there's isn't a worse destiny than giving up the idea of doing experiments."

Even a prodigy young person wasn't completely excluded from that dynamic, especially when she made basic mistakes with her work. Kurisu also had to worry about recovering her own competence as a professional to defend her reputation in the community and not risk taking the same path her father did.

"Maybe in the labs where you've been working they have that kind of worries Christina, but the situation doesn't apply to us." The mad scientist protested.

Okabe Rintarou insisted that the "Future Gadget Lab" was a private institution that didn't depend on anything other than the passion of its members for the search of the truth. Having academic prestige, publishing in scientific magazines, presenting in university seminaries or things of the type, were out of his present interests.

"Our main objective is the study of the invention process on its own, through the creation of future gadgets that lead humanity to a different level of…"

"Tell me Okabe," Kurisu interrupted "how many copyrighted patents you have in this lab? At least, can you tell me how many future gadgets you have produced and commercialized with success since you founded it?"

He got quiet suddenly since he couldn't respond to the question.

"Just like I thought, in both cases the number is zero. I hope you understand that if we continue like this we won't manage to get sponsors that will want to invest in us. We won't always be able to create efficient inventions if we only have the junk that others leave on the streets."

Plus, they had a survival vital problem: with Mayuri's part time job and Daru's secret jobs, plus the eventual financial additions of the other members, they could barely gather enough money to cover the rent.

"And what are you proposing, assistant? To sell our ideas? Academic people are killing the spirit of creativity with their useless bureaucracy." Okabe refuted. "Talent won't survive in your "real world," dominated by the Organization and other evil institutions that only want to take advantage of the inventions."

At least he could name a scientific institution that had dark intentions.

"I agree with you when it comes to that, but we aren't debating about whether the scientific system works or not. Beyond that, this issue is about the reality in which you live, Okabe Rintarou."

As of then, Okabe was a college student but if by graduation he wanted to develop a career in science, or even as an inventor, he'd have to earn a spot against many other talented graduates that wanted the same thing.

"I wouldn't like it if due to your lightness when facing important issues you lose the chance of having a future." She reproached him.

"A future?" Okabe asked, wanting to understand what she meant.

"You know what I mean, a good future." Kurisu insisted. "Even someone like you must have goals like obtaining a well-paid job or even getting married and start a family, right?"

Okabe looked confused. They had argued all that week just to reach that conclusion? Something as trivial as getting a job or having a family?

"I thank you for your concern in my future, Christina," he responded, "but what you say sounds more like an American virgin's fantasy than the goals of a mad scientist. The issue is set and it's not necessary that we debate it."

Okabe secretly worked in a plan. It wasn't extraordinary, but he didn't want to share it with her; not yet.

For her part, Kurisu got offended with the last reply. Amongst all the things that he could say, was it necessary to remind her that she was still a virgin? And even if that was the case, why was it wrong to want all those things? Did he only want to continue playing as an inventor with his friends all his life? Didn't he have any other ambitions?

"If you continue acting that way I won't be able to take you seriously, stupid Okabe."

Okabe Rintarou became quiet for a moment, without knowing what to say. The other members also seemed surprised with the sudden comment, while Kurisu's face blushed more and more when she realized the meaning of her words.

"I meant, no woman could! right?"

She looked for Mayuri's help, but she didn't say anything. Neither Kiryu Moeka through Skipe or Urushibara Ruka, who wasn't precisely a woman, backed up her affirmation. She had no support.

Hashida Itaru was the only one that raised his voice to break the awkwardness of the moment.

"Okarin, I know the way that we can solve this issue."

Right after, the young man minimized Moeka's face and entered the file browser.

"What are you looking for Daru?" Okabe asked.

"Didn't you download a copy of your grades? If Makise-shi is worried about your future, I can show them on the screen so she can clear her doubts."

"Wait, would you really betray me in that way? Weren't you my faithful right hand?"

"Of course not. This is my revenge for lying to me saying that Faris-tan would come with a bag full of homemade cookies."

Not being able to taste the sweet kitty-shaped cookies baked with the love of the beautiful maids broke his fragile otaku heart.

"What do you say Makise-shi? Do you want to take a look? This way you can decide if Okarin is a good catch."

Kurisu doubted for a moment, but she then accepted the offer.

"I don't care to know if he's a good catch or not, but since you're offering, I'm curious to know about how Okabe is doing in school."

Mayuri and Ruka also got closer to the screen to take a closer look at the document, while the emergent Skipe window informed them of a new message:

_«Shining Finger:_

_I also want to see. Send me a copy of the archive, please.»_

Daru opened the document for all to see, but the only one that didn't participate in the meticulous scrutiny was the owner of such document.

The atmosphere stayed quiet for several minutes, until the first observer spoke:

"Okarin has been making a big effort." His childhood friend said. "Congratulations, Mayushii is very proud of you."

"Okabe-san, I mean, Kyouma-san is a good student." Ruka added.

Through the internet, Moeka's opinion was presented:

_«Shining Finger:_

_It shows you worked really hard._

_Good job Okabe-kun! _╰_ (*´ _︶_`*) _╯_.»_

"This a little unexpected." Kurisu finally added.

She had become engrossed in analyzing what her eyes saw. She thought they'd be the grades of an irresponsible student that prefered stalking girls in the street or making up conspiracy theories before studying, but the evidence indicated the contrary. Although it's true that in the first year she couldn't see any extraordinary results, that drastically changed in the second. The grades improved in such a way that although they weren't perfect, the average was close to a desirable one for someone pretending to apply to a Master's degree in a good university.

The phenomenon couldn't be a mere coincidence. She thought the right thing was to congratulate Okabe for his good effort, just as everyone else had done it. She was looking for the right words, when her thoughts were interrupted.

"Fuahahahaha!"

Hououin Kyouma laughed with his particular style getting everyone's attention, and when he finished he added:

"Only the weak spirited allowed themselves to be amazed with such insignificant things."

All could guessed that Okabe reacted like that due to embarrassment. It wasn't good for him to have been exposed in such a public manner: afterall, the profile of a dedicated and responsible student wasn't compatible with the image he always pretended to show.

"Is it really needed for you to act like Hououin Kyouma now?" Kurisu reproached.

"Shut up Christina! What you see is my real form, the one of a mad scientist that pretends to demolish the system bringing chaos and destruction." He reproached. "Although I'm happy that you have finally acknowledged that your "academic world" isn't a challenge for a genius like me."

Makise Kurisu decided she didn't want to continue arguing. Asking for Okabe's modesty in that situation was like wanting to hit one's head against the wall.

"Let's stop with the foolishness."

She took a folded paper out of her coat and presented the contents to the present there.

"Look Okabe, I was thinking all week on how to make this lab work. Before coming here, I wrote some proposals; if you agree, I'll read them and we'll put them through a vote, or isn't this a round table?"

She wasn't wrong.

With Kurisu's return to Japan, Okabe would've preferred to throw a party, but due to lack of funds, plus the academic period they were on, the organization of the event became difficult. In less than a week the only thing he managed to set up was a general reunion, although he couldn't summoned the totality of the lab members.

The lab member 005, Kiryu Moeka, wasn't present in Tokyo. She had been hired by a magazine editorial that offered her a job in Hokkaido to redact the news about the local life. By then, she already had a part time job in the CRTs store, but her boss encouraged her to take the position to "open herself up to the world" and that way improving her social skills.

Despite the distance, she had accepted joining the round table through a video call. It didn't seem that the change of residence had favored her, since she continued typing messages rather than talking.

The lab member 007, "Farys NyanNyan," —Akiha Rumiko's alias—had excused herself saying that although it was her day off from May Queen, she was getting ready for the annual _RaiNet_ championship, so she'll dedicate it _"meditating under torrential waterfalls and hiking high mountains, searching for the five wise prophets who would guide her on her illumination path."_ She probably meant that she'd be busy at home.

The lab member 008, Amane Suzuha, hadn't been born yet and therefore, it was impossible she could participate. Her personal pin was put away in one of the shelves in the development room, waiting for Daru to reach his destiny.

The lab member 009 and the most recent, Hiyajo Maho, was living in the United States. She could take advantage of the technological means to join, but she had excused herself with Okabe Rintarou sending him a message:

_«Hiyajosephina:_

_I'm sorry Okabe-kun, I'll be busy this Saturday, so I won't be able to do a video call. If you see my kohai, tell her for me not to forget the reason why she is in Japan._

_Good luck, you'll need it.»_

Hence, the reunion was an incomplete round table. Despite that, the decisions being made would be valid if they were chosen by the majority of the participants.

Even when Kurisu had questioned the formality of the lab, it was obvious that she was worried for its operations. If she had made the effort to write proposals, perhaps it wasn't a bad idea to hear them. That way Okabe would show her that his lab was a group of people united by real purposes.

"Let's hear what you brought, assistant."

She went on to reciting her proposals; they all sounded practical and doable. They began to vote on each one: all members should use a white coat —voted yes by only Okabe and Kurisu—; creating a commercial image using as base the logo Okabe used to design the members pins —approved unanimously—; updating the web page " " —Daru voted against it to avoid having more work, Kurisu offered improving the translation to English—; defining how to conduct public communications —Moeka could help doing online publications—; creating open events for the community to show their work —Ruka could ask his dad to let them use the temple terrace, Mayuri would make some cute outfits for everyone—...

When they finished with the superficial matters they had to talk about the most important subject: the creation of new future gadgets. Okabe Rintarou and Makise Kurisu were the only ones with remaining energy to chat about the issue, despite wasting some of it in their argument. The other members lost interest quickly and began to scatter one by one: Kiryu Moeka hung up due to having to work on an article; Daru took advantage the web was free to navigate online; Mayuri and Ruka began to look together through a magazine where there were pictures of Mayuri's friends cosplaying with the outfits designed by her for Comina of last Summer.

Time continued its course and when it was past 4:30, Urushibara Ruka looked at her watch with worry.

"I'm sorry I have to leave this way, but father asked me to help him organize the groceries before night time. It was very fun. Have a good day."

He did a reverence and left. Less than 15 minute had gone by when Kurisy reached the same conclusion.

"I think it's time I leave too."

"Are you going back to Wako?" Okabe asked.

"Not yet, I need to go get some things I ordered before." Kurisu responded and then addressed her friend. "So Mayuri, are we meeting tomorrow as we agreed?"

"Of course Kurisu-chan! I'll see you tomorrow afternoon by the bridge in the Akiba's station.  
"You two are meeting alone?" Okabe spoke again.

"I have an issue I need to talk with Mayuri in private. Do you have a problem with it?"

But Okabe didn't respond: under his perception, when two women wanted to meet to talk alone, the only thing it could be about was evil matters that would terrify any mortal man that could hear them. He decided not to investigate any further.

Kurisu got her street shoes ready and she then looked inside, there were no chases this time? Okabe wouldn't offer her any help to carry her things, and while they were at it, taking the northbound train together? It wasn't that she wanted to spend more time with him, but if he had already followed her before, why not do it now too? That way they could continue talking about their projects for the lab.

She waited for a moment for him to say something, but the only thing that Okabe added when she was leaving was:

"Take care. The Organization could…"

"Don't even mention it." Kurisu responded and exited the place.

Moments later, Daru called his friend's attention.

"Pathetic Okarin, simply pathetic. You should die already."

The mad scientist, who was now drinking a Dk Pepper, was surprised with such unexpected comment.

"You won't manage to unlock the main event of Makise-shi's route that way. You're heading directly to the bad ending."

"Mayuri, do you understand this subject's delirious words?" Okabe asked.

She stopped her recently started sewing work to respond:

"I think Daru means that Okarin always looks frustrated when he's around Kurisu-chan, like if he wanted them to be closer."

The response left Okabe speechless for a second, was it obvious that he wanted to be closer to Kurisu?

"It doesn't surprise me that Makise-shi doubts you if you act like an idiot every time she comes back to Japan. At least you should've told her that you raised your grades to apply for a scholarship in the United States." Daru commented. "I think you should confess to her and then die, do you hear me? Those with girlfriends should die!"

Okabe wanted to respond that he was sending himself to his death: at some point Hashida Itaru and Amane Yuki would begin to go out to later get married and have a daughter, although in the present time they weren't anything other than acquaintances that exchanged some emails and meet to chat every once in a while. He was surprised that a pervert like Daru could be so modest when it came to his personal business, and still try to get involved with his.

But his right hand wasn't wrong: his plan was to get a scholarship. Daru must've guessed it when he saw the searches that Okabe did about international students in the United States, and about the academic performance requirements they required. He never expressed that the issue was related with Kurisu, but it was evident when the browser history showed that the offers most searched were the ones coming from Victor Chondria University.

His desire to be close to Kurisu was so noticeable, that perhaps it was time to confess his feelings. But when Okabe evaluated the issue he realized that it mustn't be taken lightly.

In a different worldline, the urgency to know that he wouldn't see her again, that she'd _die_ after that last goodbye, was what made those words easy to say: he knew that if he didn't confess in that moment, he'd regret it all his life. There wouldn't be a second chance, at least that's what he believed. But now that Kurisu would live, that neither the convergence threat existed anymore nor the previous fatalities, would the "right moment" exist to try again?

At that moment at least, Okabe didn't feel comfortable explaining the content of his feelings.

"It'll be best to change the subject. This had nothing to do with the lab."

Daru accepted the proposal. After all, it wasn't the style of neither man to become emotional.

He remembered an interesting subject to discuss:

"Tell me Okarin, do you know the user _JumpingRabbit011_?"

"JumpingRabbit011?" Okabe repeated, without remembering having heard it before. "What kind of ridiculous alias is that?"

"He showed up a few days ago. He's looking for an old computer. Take a look…"

The hacker clicked on a thread on channel titled "_Searching for an IBN5100_" where the first message read:

* * *

**1 Name: JumpingRabbit011 : 10/02/2012 11:10:50 **

I need an IBN5100.

I ask for info.

**2 Name: Anonymous: 10/02/2012 11:15:28**

1

And I need a life.

* * *

"An IBN5100? Why does he need one?"

The model searched got Okabe Rintarou's attention, since it wasn't unknown at all.

"He hasn't said, but that's not the most important part. Keep on reading the messages."

The mad scientist used the mouse to follow the flow of the discussion:

* * *

**15 Name: Anonymous: 10/02/2012 13:25:45**

I have an IBN5100 available.

I can give it to you if you transfer 100 000 yens to my PeyPal account.

I also take coins.

**16 Name: Anonymous: 10/02/2012 13:27:33**

15

coins are a temporary fashion.

In a couple of years nobody will remember them, they're worthless.

**17 Name: JumpingRabbit011 : 10/02/2012 13:29:19 **

15

I'm not playing.

I need a real IBN5100.

**18 Name: Anonymous: 10/02/2012 13:45:33**

17

Don't you think I have an IBN5100?

That's your problem, I'll sell it to someone else ┐(︶▽︶)┌.

**20 Name: Anonymous: 10/02/2012 15:03:45**

For real though, it's very hard to find an IBN5100 these days.

Those things are discontinued, good luck with that.

**29 Name: Anonymous: 10/02/2012 18:11:57**

I know how to find an IBN5100.

My cousin who lives in Shinjuku told me how to find one: you have to undo some _B-mails_ that you sent to revert the butterfly effect.

But be careful because you can end up killing your favorite waifu in the process.

**36 Name: Anonymous: 10/02/2012 21:02:22**

APL is the best programming language ever created by man.

BASIC's monopoly must die!

**42 Name: Anonymous: 10/03/2012 01:38:25**

I have one of those IBN, I'm typing on it now.

The keyboard is a little hard but it works well.

I'll give it to you if you get me the 7 Dragon cubes.

**55 Name: Anonymous: 10/03/2012 12:38:25**

17

Here you have a reliable vid explaining how to find a real IBN5100:

.jp/watch/sm3823705

I hope it helped you.

**56 Name: JumpingRabbit011 : 10/03/2012 12:45:33**

55

No more jokes.

I need real information.

**57 Name: Anonymous: 10/03/2012 12:50:43**

56

It doesn't look like "Jumping Rabbit" has any sense of humor.

**58 Name: Anonymous: 10/03/2012 13:00:58**

56

(\\_/)

.

(")₍")

**79 Name: Anonymous: 10/03/2012 13:34:25**

56

Even though we haven't told you spoilers about what will happen in the year 2055. The convergence of this attractor field S;G will turn a little strange for my taste, especially with HK and JT escaping from the UM.

I don't know what the author thought, but I'm sure it was something he created when he was bored.

I'll give him a 7.5/10.

**91 Name: Anonymous: 10/04/2012 03:28:11**

56

At least you haven't lost The Game.

I just lost.

* * *

"I don't see what's interesting about this, they're only making fun of him."

Almost no one on channel seemed to take the discussion topic seriously. Most of the messages were full of foolishness or something not related with a real IBN5100, because nobody believed that such an archaic computer could be found in that time.

"Many users came into this thread to bother JumpingRabbit011, that's what's so interesting."

"What do you mean? That's what trolls do best."

Daru explained that since a couple of days ago, many users began to ask for help in the IT subforum due to problems they were having. It seemed that there were serious errors with their operating systems, like if they had been "sabotaged" in several different ways. Some stated they weren't able to access their favorite programs, others that certain information on their hard drives had been erased, others had random bothersome events that popped up on their screens, making it difficult to use. The strange process that controlled them didn't seem to pretend anything in particular other than complicate things for them. But when the victims searched for a file or executing service that could explain the phenomenon, they couldn't find any.

The users affirmed that the sabotage happened a little after leaving messages on the thread started by JumpingRabbit011, as if by commenting on it was the trigger of the phenomenon. That didn't make others stop from continuing to respond in the discussion, but if however not everyone that commented was affected, there seemed to be some kind of preference on those that provoked the rabbit more.

"A user said that after typing a message, his screen only showed the image of Kirisane Marina in the same link he copied on the thread. He had to completely reformat his hard drive to get rid of it, although it's a shame, because Marina-tan is very moe."

"You mean to tell me that the "Jumping Rabbit" is taking revenge on them?"

That'd mean he wasn't a normal internet user, but a true hacker.

"I don't know, but if what everyone says is true, it seems he's very skillful. Nobody has been able to find proof of what he does or how he does it."

The topic was reported several times on channel, but after insisting, the page admins admitted that it was impossible to eliminate, and plus, they couldn't block the proxy that JumpingRabbit011 used to connect. The security of the code which with the page is written began to be questioned by everyone.

Many knowledgeable programmers were interested in solving the question. They were planning on forming a "rabbit hunting" group to find the user's identity, although they hadn't agreed on what techniques they'd use to catch him.

"I too want to know if he can infect computers, so I decided to send him a message."

Amongst the last ones added:

* * *

**136 Name: BarrelTitor003: 10/06/2012 16:46:22**

I'm the master of all computers, and the only and magnificent Super Hacker.

IBN5100-tan is my property and I challenge you to take it from me, JumpingRabbit011!

* * *

"Are you sure about what you're doing Daru? Okabe asked. "If this guy is a hacker it could be dangerous to provoke him."

"Hacking an expert like me won't be easy, Okarin. I know better than anyone the information path of the lab machines."

The one that had called him out when he revealed his grades, so Okabe couldn't deny it. He knew that his friend was an expert in the field.

However, when Hashida Itaru tried to change pages on the web browser, the program stopped responding. Even the pointer had disappeared.

"It froze up."

He began to use different key combinations to access the system processes, but he wasn't successful.

"It seems the task manager stopped working."

"Can you fix it?" Okabe asked, who began to get a bad feeling about it.

"I'm going to try to restart it."

With a button, the computer turned off and right after it began to work again. But when the operating system initiated, instead of executing the usual desktop, the screen turned white. Above it Skipe opened up showing a chat window. The message read as follows:

_«JumpingRabbit011:_

_Uncle Barrel. Do you have the IBN5100?_

_I need it.»_

"That's him Okarin, that's JumpingRabbit011!" Daru exclaimed surprised by what he was seeing. "That bastard managed to fool me, I refuse to accept it!"

"It looks like he wants to talk to you." Okabe added, surprised as well.

Under the JumpingRabbit011's message, the writing bar blinked, waiting for a response.

"Do you think I should answer? This seems very suspicious."

Okabe Rintarou didn't know the right answer.

Talking from experience, there was only one type of people that searched for the IBN5100 with such desire: the rounders. Could that be the reason behind such energy trying to find information about one? Was JumpingRabitt011 a recruited rounder?

"Ask him what he needs a IBN5100 for." He said, hoping to clear his doubts.

Hashida Itaru wrote:

_«BarrelTitor003:_

_What you want it for?»_

The answer from the other side didn't delay.

_«JumpingRabbit011:_

_Secret Operation.»_

"Secret Operation? That's like saying nothing!" Daru said.

"Do you think he can find us?"

Whatever the "secret operation" was, Okabe didn't want anything to do with it.

"I'm using a VPN with a very trusted code to connect to the Internet. I don't know how he infected my computer, but he shouldn't be able to locate where we are easily."

A woman's voice resounded in the room saying: _"the future gadget lab"_

When hearing it, Okabe turned towards the couch.

"Did you say that Mayuri?"

"No." The one that continued sewing on the coach said. "Mayushii didn't say anything."

The voice had come from the computer's speakers.

"Okarin, it looks like Jumping Rabbit has initiated a video call with us and he is sending us his audio."

Okabe Rintarou froze up while looking at himself and his friends on the mini of the window's lower part.

"He can see us…"

"Yes." The voice responded.

Okabe Rintarou swallowed saliva. How should he react?

Should he grab Mayuri and run outside? It wouldn't make sense. The rounders were capable of controlling the public transportation and they were armed, so it was dangerous to try to escape from them. But if they were following their footsteps and knew their location, why not coming directly into the lab?

Thinking about it, Okabe also believed that the situation was very suspicious. Hacking channel users because they responded to a message seemed like a childish method if it was a mercenary's group, also after the fact that they hadn't been the first ones to be attacked. But even then, he didn't want to underestimate the facts: He must take action as soon as something came to his mind.

He was thinking of a plan when Mayuri, ignoring the gravity of the situation, stepped into the front addressing the monitor:

"Hello Rabbit-chan! My name is Mayushii, nice to meet you." She greeted with her hand.

"Hello."

The strange hacker didn't seem hostile in his response.

"My sixth sense is detecting the voice of a 'little sister'." Daru commented and after he decided to test his theory. "Rabbit-tan, please say 'Onii-chan, I'm afraid, can I sleep with you?'"

"No." She replied.

"So you're lying to me! You wouldn't be a true little sister if you can't say that!"

Hashida Itaru believed that the hacker was using a voice simulator program to hide his real identity and set a trap for a pervert like him, but he considered himself too smart to fall for it. Okabe Rintarou reacted to his own incredulity of what had just happened and grabbed both of his friends from behind, pushing them towards one corner.

"You two stop playing! This guy could be dangerous, we must stop this!"

"You're right Okarin, this guy is caressing our IT hips with impunity like he was a chikan." Daru responded with one of his analogies. "I'll try to recover control of the system, meanwhile you talk to him to distract him."

"Me? You want me to talk to him?"

"It's a video call, right? Get your delirious Hououin Kyouma to say something while I find out how he does it. If there's someone on the other side of the communication, perhaps I could track his IP and discover where he's hiding."

Daru sat at the computer and tried to open a command line. After some tries, he was successful.

"The IBN5100." The speaking voice demanded. "I don't see it."

"IBN? We don't have an IBN5100." Okabe replied.

"Not yet?"

"Exactly. Barrel Titor lied to you. It was just an innocent joke to get your attention, but he regrets it now, got it?"

"Yes." Jumping Rabbit said.

Okabe doubet for a second. Persuading the rabbit to leave them alone could be that easy? He thought he had found an effective strategy.

"We don't have one and we don't even know what it's good for, we're totally incompetent when it comes to the IBN5100 specifications!"

"Speak for yourself, Okarin." Daru responded while continue keying commands on the console, searching for a way to regain control of the equipment.

"The point is that you won't gain anything coming to our lab!" The mad scientist continued announcing. "You won't find anything if you try to follow us either, you'll only waste your time, so forget about us and keep on looking for it somewhere else!"

Okabe Rintarou didn't know if what he was saying will work, but he believed if he convinced him that they didn't know absolutely anything about the IBN5100 or about its hidden functions, —which were needed to access the Echelon managed by SERN—, Jumping Rabbit would lose interest to investigate them.

Some seconds after, the hacker's voice declared:

"Okay."

And before Okabe could say another word, the screen turned dark. Jumping Rabbit had turned the system off remotely, leaving Daru in a momentaneous shocking state.

"Damn Rabbit, you'll pay for this! Do you hear me?" He yelled when he was able to recover. "I swear I'll find you and you'll regret what you did!"

The defeated Super Hacker was mad, but his interlocutor couldn't hear him anymore.

"Daru, we don't have time for this. It'll be better to leave the lab right now." Okabe insisted.

"Do you think he'll come for us Okarin? I've got the feeling that bastard is only interested in that IBN." He responded.

Perhaps Hashida Itaru was right and a real danger didn't exist, but Okabe Rintarou wouldn't feel safe until everyone got home safe and sound that night. He immediately ordered clearing the installations, at the same time that he offered to take his childhood friend home. He also made sure to know if Kurisu had gone back to Wako, sending her a RINE.

"Why do you think that Rabbit-chan wants that IDN, Okarin?" Mayuri asked while walking together to the station.

Okabe couldn't guess, but he remembered another character that had also used channel as his method of contact: John Titor, Amane Suzuha online alias. She was also looking for an IBN5100 when she went back to the past. Could those events be related? Probably not, because there were very few similarities between Suzuha's actions and Jumping Rabbit's. There weren't any motives for a time machine to exist in that world line either.

He decided to forget about it: whatever JumpingRabbit011's reasons were, they'd stay away.

The Future Gadget Lab was empty and the lights were off.

"It looks like this is the place but nobody is in."

A last minute guest, with two long braids and riding a bike arrived at the front of the building. She had gotten distracted all day riding around, so she had lost track of time. When she noticed that the sun was setting down, she rapidly looked for the address she had written down. But when she arrived it was too late to participate in the reunion that happened a moment before.

She was thinking of an excuse to tell her friend about the failure of her mission, when she saw the CRTs store located on the first floor.

"I think I have an idea."

After writing the contact number down, she turned her bike around and pedaled away.

* * *

**Translator's Notes:**  
Hello everyone, first time leaving a little note. I'm very excited to be translating this story. When I first read this story in Spanish I fell in love. I contacted the author to see if he wanted to work on a translation. I wanted the fans of Steins;Gate to have the opportunity to read such an amazing story. I've read pretty much all the stories out there and this has been my favorite by far and I hope you guys enjoy it as much as me. I had a lot of fun translating this chapter. I felt like I was watching the anime or reading the VN. I laughed a lot with so many of the lines and I can't wait to read your thoughts.

**Luf5**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

**Confessions**

_Sunday, October 7th, 2012_

Makise Kurisu waited impatiently for the Tobu Toyo train line, feeling like whole days went by before she could board it. Her mental calculations had failed: she thought that if she left home at a certain time, she could arrive at her reunion with enough extra time; but although it wasn't like her to ignore important parameters, she had left out of the equation the low frequencies of Sundays.

Almost an hour after, the train arrived at Akihabara. As soon as the automatic doors opened, Kurisu ran towards the bridge, trying to avoid the people that came out of the station. At the top, a known figure waited for her.

"Mayuri!"

The girl that wore blue regardless of the season turned around when she heard her name.

"Kurisu-chan, tuturu!"

The young scientist got to her side almost panting. She had gone up the stairs running and due to the effort, she had almost gotten out of breath.

"Had you been waiting too long? It really wasn't my intention to be late."

"Mayushii has also just arrived."

Faced with the gentle response, Kurisu relaxed. Mayuri didn't seem upset due to her lateness.

They exchanged a big smile and then Kurisu added:

"Would you like to go for a walk?"

Mayuri assented and both women marched together towards the main street. Like all Sunday afternoons, Chuo Dori was closed to traffic and it only allowed pedestrians crossing. Whole families walked around the commercial district in a warm and pleasant atmosphere.

Makise Kurisu didn't remember having seen so many people at the same time in Akihabara. Even though it wasn't her first trip, every time she visited the eastern country she spent most of her free time locked up in the lab founded by a certain "mad scientist." She liked to visit that leased apartment. She would usually take books or papers she needed to read and sometimes she chatted with the other lab members. She cursed the lack of AC in Summer and a proper heater unit in Winter, but generally, she didn't have any complains.

That Sunday would be the exception. She wouldn't stop by since she had plans with Mayuri. But although she'd like to stop by to say hi, Okabe wouldn't allow it.

_«Okabe Rintarou:_

_The Future Gadget Lab is closed down until I can be sure that it isn't under an enemy surveillance. Stay away. El Psy Congroo.__»_

The chat message went to all the members' phones and the order of no access was absolute until new notice.

"Do you know what's going on with Okabe now?" Kurisu asked. "I don't understand why he suddenly decided to shut down the lab without any explanations."

"I think it's because of what happened with Jumping Rabbit." Mayuri responded. "It looks like Okarin doesn't want her to visit us. Daru-kun was also very mad, he said that he'd 'make him pay' if he found him." She imitated the hacker's face.

Jumping Rabbit? What kind of new delusion was that? It even sounded more ridiculous than the "Organization". But if Hashida Itaru had also met this person, she or he could be real.

"Do you know that Rabbit?"

"No, but Mayushii greeted her through Skype and Okarin got mad at her. I don't understand why, Rabbit-chan seemed nice."

Kurisu had no idea what Mayuri was talking about, but the name "Jumping Rabbit_"_ sounded familiar from some other place. She didn't remember exactly if she had seen it on channel, but due to the work at the RIKEM, she hadn't had much time to check the announcement board and she couldn't be sure.

She'd ask Okabe later about it.

"So tell me, what you wanted to talk about, Kurisu-chan?" Mayuri asked. "You said you had something very important to ask."

Kurisu wanted to keep a trivial chat for a little longer, but her walking partner had gone straight to the point. Perhaps it was better to face the issue that way, so while they continued walking, she responded:

"You see Mayuri, I've had some strange ideas surrounding my head. It's not like they're very important, but I must make a decision about them." She began to explain. "Thinking about the possible solutions, I concluded that before making a decision that brings consequences for the lab, I had to consult it with you."

"It's okay, but, wouldn't it be better if you ask Okarin? Mayushii doesn't understand science and doesn't believe she can help you."

"Don't say that, of course you can help." Kurisu reprimanded her. "Plus, it isn't about science, but about Okabe Rintarou."

Shiina Mayuri listened to Kurisu's words attentively: if it was about Okarin, she was interested.

"I was thinking a lot about Okabe. He is socially incompetent and I believe that continue acting like Hououin Kyouma will only worsen everything in the long run. I mean, Hashida-san told me he was always that eccentric, and that he has matured a lot after what happened, but I don't think that's enough. Because like I said yesterday, life isn't about playing a mad scientist forever, and I wouldn't like it if that silly man couldn't, even hypothetically speaking, find someone due to his behavior."

"You shouldn't worry about that Kurisu-chan, Okarin will never be alone." The girl in blue said. "Mayushii will always be with him, Daru-kun too and I'm sure Kurisu-chan too, although she lives far away."

"I know that, but that's not what I'm talking about." Kurisu responded. "What I mean, it's that Okabe needs a different type of company. You know, he exaggerates all the time, but I believe we both agree that he has a lot to offer and that someone should help him with that, don't you think?"

Mayuri shook her head, although she still did not understanding what she meant.

"I think you'll agree that Okabe needs a person that encourages him to give the best of himself. Someone that supports him when things go wrong and helps him understands that 'she'll always be there' every time he needs her." Kurisu continued. "A person that is able to take his hand and encourages him to not give up. Not only that, but to never let go, regardless of what happens."

Makise Kurisu looked at the palm of her hand, halting the walk. She then turned towards the bridge that they had left behind. For a moment, the expression of a sad mad scientist invaded her head. An Okabe that found himself trapped in an endless maze, that fought alone against the world. An Okabe Rintarou at the edge of desperation.

Kurisu didn't know what that image was about: if it was a product of a real memory or her imagination. But she did know that she didn't want to see Okabe with that face, not even in dreams, again.

"What do you think Mayuri? Don't you think it's right that Okabe could have that kind of company? If you know what I mean."

"Yes, I think I understand now." The girl in blue responded and before her interlocutor could say anything else, she added: "Kurisu-chan is saying she wants to be Okarin's girlfriend, right?"

The face of the redheaded girl turned the same shade as her hair with that comment.

"Wait Mayuri! I didn't say that exactly!" She rushed to respond. "I do think that it'd be good for Okabe to have a girlfriend, but I wasn't specifically talking about me!"

"No? Because Mayushii felt for a moment that Kurisu-chan wanted to hold Okarin's hand with all her might."

Hold his hand? Perhaps she wanted to hold it. Perhaps she wanted to walk by his side. Perhaps she wanted to see the person he'd turn into. And although quantum physics wanted to question that arrow that traveled from past to future, perhaps she wanted to share that fatality that humans called 'destiny' with Okabe.

It'd be useless to continue pretending she wasn't invested in him to Mayuri. Making sure that nobody she knew was listening and trying to resume the walk, Kurisu added in a low voice:

"Mayuri, do you promise not to tell anything what I've told you to the other members?"

If the other lab members found out what Kurisu was about to confess, she'd literally die of embarrassment. She'd be forced to erase that information inserting electrodes into their hippocampus, and if Mayuri wanted to free them from that horrible fate, she'd must promise to keep it a secret, which she did.

"Some time ago I've noticed certain unknown feelings in me. I haven't been able to take a PET o an MRI of my own brain, although I have the feeling that the cause could be an over activity of the insula, the amygdala or the cingulate cortex. Or perhaps it's an excessive release of dopamine from the mesolimbic pathway every time I have to interact with Okabe or with something related to him." She explained, wanting to express it all in scientific terms. "Analyzing the symptoms I have, if we apply the current neuroscientific knowledge, and we also add the bibliographic recompilation of what popular culture defines as 'romance', we can deduce based on the evidence, well, that I, when it comes to Okabe Rintarou, would be… No, that I am, that I am…"

But she couldn't say it; not in front of hundreds of strangers that cross Chuo Dori that Sunday. However, the girl in blue had interpreted her words.

"Mayushii doesn't understand many things that Kurisu-chan says, but she believes that is very kawaii that she is in love and she's happy that she can admit her feelings. She can now confess to Okarin and they can be a couple."

"Is that what you think?" Kurisu asked, surprised.

"Of course, Okarin and Kurisu-chan are meant for each other."

Mayuri smiled in the same happy way she always did, but Kurisu felt that the response was very different from what she expected.

"It's funny, for a moment I thought you'd be against it." Kurisu said.

"Why?" The girl in blue asked confused.

"Well, I believed that you'd be in love with Okabe, but I could've been wrong."

Kurisu continued walking, only to realize that nobody was walking next to her.

"Mayuri?"

When she turned around, she noticed how Shiina Mayuri had stopped marching after the comment, staying motionless in the middle of the street. Kurisu worried: the girl in blue had a surprise expression that she had never seen before; as if she had told her a disagreeable story with an impacting conclusion.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you with what I said. I just thought that…"

"Kurisu-chan wasn't wrong, at least not completely." Mayuri interrupted. "But it's not only what she said. No, the truth is that Okarin is the most important person for me and I love him with all my heart. I love him more than anything in the world!"

Shiina Mayuri made her confession without worrying about the pedestrians that surrounded them heard, without looking for expressions that hid her emotions or even without referring to herself on the third person. She had forgotten everything that existed around her and the only thing that mattered was to confess her feelings for Okabe Rintarou.

Kurisu was perplexed with such an honest act. She soon felt a strange feeling inside of her: jealousy? Envy? Anger? Disappointment? Sadness? Or was it all together?

"Listen Mayuri, we're friends, so I'll be direct." Kurisu said closing her fists. "If what you want is to confess to Okabe and be his girlfriend, I promise I won't get in your way. After all, perhaps my feelings for him are only temporal."

Kurisu was sure that what she felt wasn't that easy to forget, that she was truly in love. But her friendship with Shiina Mayuri was more important that any hypothetical romance that she could have with Okabe Rintarou. She respected and loved the girl in blue, to the point that she'd move to the side so she could smile next to her most important person.

"Mayushii loves Okarin with all her heart and what she wants the most is for him to be happy. That's why she believes that it is Kurisu-chan whom must be with him." She responded.

"Wait, have you just said that…?" Kurisu asked.

Mayuri moved her head.

"That is Kurisu-chan and not Mayushii who must confess to Okarin."

The response was contradictory. If her argument was that she loved Okabe Rintarou more than any other person in the world, why was she encouraging another woman to confess instead of her? If Okabe accepted Makise Kurisu's confession first, and given that in Japan that meant that they'd begin an exclusive mutual relationship, then Mayuri wouldn't have a chance to be his girlfriend. It meant completely giving him up.

"Mayuri, I don't understand you." Kurisu said. "If you love him as much as you say, you have more right to be with Okabe than anyone else. The most logical thing is that if you confess first, you two become a couple. Your success is guaranteed."

Shiina Mayuri had already turned 18 years old and finished school. Plus on top of being a waitress at the May Queen, she also had another part time job in a bakery. Many people went to the store just so they could be served by her, and even a rumor existed online that said that Mayuri's smile could heal any sadness (although it was possibly started on purpose to increase sales).

Even so, who in their right mind would let that opportunity go? A virgin like Okabe should be thankful to have a girlfriend like Mayuri: happy, gentile, and pretty. He couldn't be as stupid as to reject her love confession, and if he did, Kurisu would agree with Hashida Itaru that he deserved to be stoned without mercy.

But Mayuri herself was who didn't agree with her opinion.

"I believe that Kurisu-chan is very intelligent, but sometimes she can also be a little naive."

The young scientist raised an eyebrow. She wasn't used to be called out like that —specially by Mayuri—, so she needed an explanation.

"Like you say, Mayushii could confess to Okarin and she knows he'd do everything he could to make her happy. She even knows he'd be willing to work really hard to keep her smiling. But that'd be normal, because Okarin has always been like that; he's always been there to protect me and taking care of me since we were children." Mayuri closed her eyes while she remembered the good childhood memories, very important moments for her, and after her pause she continued. "But that Mayushiii could be the woman that Okarin wants, that's nothing more than an illusion. No… even if it happened, it wouldn't be okay. Okarin has already chosen the person he wants next to him, and no other should take that place."

She then took Makise Kurisu's hand and looking into her eyes she added:

"And that person is no other than Kurisu-chan."

Kurisu became speechless from what she heard and released Mayuri's hand.

"Are you sure about what you're saying? Because I've also thought a lot and I think that if we did the experiment to let Okabe choose to stay with only one of us and having to give up the other one, he'd naturally choose you. You're more important in his life than I am, Mayuri. I have no doubts about it."

It was almost an axiom: Okabe Rintarou would be willing to do anything for Mayuri's sake, even if that meant sacrificing others' happiness to achieve it. That included leaving Kurisu herself behind if needed.

"Perhaps Kurisu-chan is right, after all, we are childhood friends and we've always been together." She responded. "But it'd be very cruel to put Okarin through that experiment and I wouldn't allow it. Okarin must choose without having to lose anyone, and if that's the case, I'm sure he'd choose Kurisu-chan."

Kurisu couldn't believe what she was hearing. She didn't understand what kind of evidence her friend had.

"You talk as if you had a 99.9% certainty, how do you know he'd pick me?"

"Because I always watch Okarin." The girl in blue responded. "I know he's trying really hard to be able to walk next to Kurisu-chan, and that he's looking for a way for them not to be apart anymore."

Had he said that to her? If that was true, Kurisu had the door open to confess.

"But if Okabe gets a girlfriend, you'd grow apart Mayuri. You wouldn't see him as often as before and he wouldn't have that much time for you. You'd be the one to lose the most, would you really be okay with that? Wouldn't you be sad?"

Mayuri trusted that it didn't matter what happened, Okabe and Kurisu wouldn't forget about her and everyone would continue being friends. Even if they decided to live in the United States, got married, or even had children, there would surely be a space where all the lab members could get together to share their lives.

"Stop looking for excuses, Kurisu-chan." Mayuri reproached. "You must tell Okarin what you feel and you'll see that everything will be fine. No more 'tsundere' it's time for you two to be happy."

There was no way to refute that last argument.

Faced with this, Makise Kurisu wrapped the body of her friend into her arms, making the Mayuri's hat fall onto the ground.

"Promise me that you'll always be in our life, Mayuri. That you won't let anything ever happen to you."

Shiina Mayuri was surprised. It wasn't that common that the young scientist was that affectionate, but with the sudden gesture, the only thing she could do was to reciprocate the embrace.

"I won't go anywhere. Mayushii will always be here."

After a long while, Makise Kurisu let go of Mayuri. She felt completely relief, as if she had gotten rid of a big weight.

"I can't believe what I'm going to say, but…" she sighed to take in some air, "I have decided to confess my feelings to Okabe Rintarou."

She'd be honest with him about what she felt, but more importantly, she'd be honest with _herself_. Her brain demanded her to quit the self-lying. With Mayuri's encouragement, she didn't have anything else to fear.

That guy "Hououin-hentai-Kyouma" would get a big surprise and that silly guy better be happy when the moment arrives.

Both resumed their walk through the street. Kurisu now talked endlessly about science, the lab, and particularly about Okabe, while the girl in blue responded moving her head, attentive to everything she said. When there was nothing left to see or talk about, they both went back together through the same path until arriving at the bridge where they had met earlier. They said goodbye there.

When she was alone, Shiina Mayuri looked up: the first stars had come out. She extended her hand towards the sky, wanting to catch them, and she stayed motionless for a moment in that position while the pedestrians walked by around her.

Walking down the bridge there was a miko with a market bag in her hand, who ran to her when she recognized her.

"Mayuri-chan, so glad to find you here!" Ruka greeted. "I just saw Makise-san at the station, I'm so glad you guys met today."

But her friend didn't respond. She had an engrossed expression, while a couple of tears fell down her cheeks.

"Mayuri-chan, are you okay? You're crying."

Due to her friend's insistence, the girl in blue woke up from her lethargy and cleaned her face with her dress' sleeve.

"I see, Mayushii also lies to herself sometimes."

Despite what she had said before, Mayuri felt jealousy. Even if she believed that her beloved Hikoboshi would be there to protect her no matter what, her longing to be "the chosen one," to be his partner, was disappearing day by day after Makise Kurisu's arrival to their lives.

She could never compete against the redhead: Kurisu was beautiful, but more than that, she was very smart. It wasn't strange that her childhood friend was interested on her, since they both had many things in common. With time, Makise Kurisu also fell in love, although on her own way, with Okabe Rintarou, and everyone in the lab knew, although perhaps Kurisu was the only one that wanted to continue denying it.

But that day she had admitted it in front of her and from that moment on, everything would change.

Mayuri loved Okabe and that's why she had to let him go. Seeing him happy with Kurisu was more important than her own desire to be always with him. She'd get over the pain, because it was only a small price she'd pay for the wellbeing of her treasured Hououin Kyouma.

"I don't know what happened between you too, but do you want me to call Okabe-san? Perhaps you need to talk to him."

Urushibara Ruka was worried that Kurisu and Mayuri had had an argument and that had saddened Mayuri. If there was someone that could fix the issue, that'd be Okabe.

"Don't worry Ruka-kun, Mayushii would be fine."

Ruka didn't want to get in their business, but she knew she couldn't leave her friend alone like that.

"So then, why don't you come to the temple for dinner? And if you want, you can tell me everything that happened."

Mayuri accepted her friend's invitation and while they walked together through Akihabara, her sadness began to go away, until almost disappearing.

* * *

_Tuesday, October 9th, 2012_

Back at the RIKEM, Usui Keitarou hid within himself the cellphone that belonged to Makise Kurisu. With a quick move, he had grabbed it from his mother's pocket, to turn the Bluetooth on and be able to transfer a malicious program to it. The objective of that was to intercept the messages and calls, sending a copy of theses to Keitarou's phone. When he was done with his job, he had to give it back to its owner, without her noticing.

While the software executed some scripts, the muscle pain he felt in his legs reminded him of what happened the previous day.

That Monday had been the "Health and Sports Day," and therefore, it was a national holiday. It was that same morning that Hashida Suzuha planned her trap: saying she had gotten relevant information about the moves of Okabe Rintarou, she asked Keitarou to meet at the park in Ueno with the purpose of exchanging the information. But when he arrived to the indicated place, the young man saw how Suzuha had two bicycles ready; one of them, apparently leased, was for him, who didn't have another option but to go with her on her outing if he wanted to hear what she had to say.

They went together through several sites in the city. They went and came back through the Tokyo Big Sight path —place that Suzuha said was very important for her parents—, and after a whole healthy sporty journey, they returned the leased bicycle. A little after, they found themselves walking through one of the streets of Akihabara, while sipping on juice bought from a vending machine.

"We could go to the movies, although the best that you can find in this time is 4D. I wonder if zombies movies are popular, I always found them funny." Suzuha conversed happily. "Or perhaps you want to see something anime related? There was one of two siblings that we liked watching in Blue-ray when we were children, I think it was called 'Bear Children'."

It wasn't bears; Keitarou perfectly remembered that the movie was about wolf children. But what do the movies have to do with anything at that moment? He had noticed hours ago that Suzuha had lied from the beginning and she didn't have anything important to say, but he didn't want to stop the stroll because she seemed to be having fun. However, it was time to put an end to that farce.

"Hashida-san, you really don't care about anything we came to do this year, do you?" He asked.

"Of course I care. I'm a Solider and I always keep my promises." She responded, finishing her juice and disposing of the can into a trash can. "But you aren't the only one that expects something from the other one, future child."

She had that unusual expression that showed that nothing she'd say would be a joke, but she'd be very serious, so Keitarou decided to hear her.

"I understand that all this about spying on your parents it's for your amnesia. I said I was going to help you and I am going to do it. But, you know? The amnesia was never an impediment before, not even for you to graduate from the university." Suzuha explained. "However, after they became too important and due to that you became a different person, how to say it? Despite it all, before that you were happier? I don't know if I'm explaining myself."

She didn't have to make it clear. He understood very well what she meant.

"Anyway, I believed that when you finished the time machine, you'd have a motive to go back to being yourself and then we could have fun like before. But you've only been there faking all day and I don't know what to think anymore."

"I always have fun when I'm with you and today wasn't the exception. And you know I also keep my promises." Keitarou responded serious. "But you more than anyone else should know why this is important for me."

Suzuka understood it, and she really wanted to help him. But she also knew that 'something' inside Okabe Keitarou had broken a few years ago. The reason: a discussion he had with uncle Okarin. Only the two of them knew the contents of that chat, and after that, they began to pretend they were almost like two strangers. Not even aunt Kurisu's or Shizuka's intervention had been able to solve the issue. Even a third party like Suzuha was able to see the severity of the fact.

However, unlike his mother or his younger sister, Suzuha believed she had the authority —and why not, the duty— to help Keitarou rectify himself. She soon had an idea that could serve to solve the family situation of her best friend:

"I got it! Why don't you talk to uncle Okarin from the past?" She proposed. "He's almost our same age, you two could get along well. Perhaps that'd make you happy."

Keitarou thought that the proposal was completely ridiculous: if working with his mother at the RIKEM already was extremely uncomfortable at times, the idea of becoming 'friends' with his young father was even worse than that. Almost like a bad remake of a 1985 movie about time travel.

"That'll never happen, Hashida-san. And stop supposing that I need to talk to him to feel better. We're here to spy on him, not to try to get along."

"Are you sure you don't want to try, Ikari? I mean, the lab is just right here…" She said pointing with her finger through the street.

The pointed spot was an old building. The front looked worn down and the first floor served as a store of old CRTs.

Was that the famous 'legendary' place? The apartment in the second floor looked like all of them, without any extraordinary features. Plus, it seemed like nobody was inside. Not his father, nor Suzuha's father, or any of the other members of the institution: it was dark and the curtains were closed.

Hashida Suzuha explained to him that she guarded the surrounding areas all day Sunday and that nobody showed up. She felt that they abandoned it for the weekend and that Monday there wouldn't be any activity either, so there was no point on continuing waiting.

Despite that, Suzuha had a 'master plan' to be able to guard the lab during the week, so that was her last day off. She'd fulfill her part of the job, that way they could find the evidence of that future gadget that Keitarou had as his objective. Meanwhile he had to fulfill his part of the mission, so they could together leave from the year 2012.

At the same as his memories, the installation process of the spying software ended, and Keitarou only had to get the dispositive back to the pocket of its owner. Before he could do that, Makise Kurisu went to him with a grim face.

"Usui-san, can we talk for a moment?"

She looked very angry. Had she realized the she had been robbed? Keitarou hid the phone behind his back, while thinking of a good explanation of how he had gotten it.

"Tell me, what are these numbers?" Kurisu said pointing at the screen of the work computer. "Nothing of what we have here works!"

No, she wasn't conscious of the rob yet. What she was complaining about was the results of the experiment of the previous week. She had analyzed the data on her own and had noticed that it had errors.

"I wanted to say it, Makise-san." He responded, thinking of a quick explanation, although he couldn't come up with one, "but the truth is that I didn't know how to bring it up."

"What do you mean? What couldn't you bring up?"

Kurisu remembered that the young man tried to tell her something a little before they finished the work week, but that he finally had desisted. She tried to remember everything that had happened at the RIKEM: from their introduction with Yamagata, the trivial chat about the paper that Usui-san never sent her, the calibration process, the revision of the methodology of the experiment, the instructions the boss gave them before beginning with their work…

"Wait Usui-san, don't tell me that I… did I use the broken sensor?" Kurisu asked.

Keitarou moved his head affirmatively and Makise Kurisu, like in a very few times in her life, felt embarrassed of herself.

She remembered she had overseen that detail for paying too much attention to a certain 'mad scientist' that was talking to her through RINE, to the point she forgot to do her own work well. Why did she have to be swept away so much when it came to that silly guy? Although she knew she couldn't blame Okabe Rintarou for her mistakes.

She'd take responsibility for her actions, and from then on she wouldn't allow her romantic feelings to get in the way of her duty.

"Makise-san, are you mad?" The young man responded impatient with the sudden silence from his mother.

"No, Usui-san." She responded, trying to moderate her mood. "But look, from now on we must tell each other when one are making a mistake, without any doubt, do you understand me? We're work partners, we must trust each other if we want things to turn out well."

For a moment, he felt a little guilty about what he was about to respond.

"Okay Makise-san. I promise I'll tell you everything from now on."

Although that didn't mean he'd tell her all the truth.

Kurisu was okay with his response and knowing they had to go back to redo the whole experiment again, she began to get ready. But before, she instinctively put her hands in the pockets of her lab coat.

"Uh? Where's my phone?" She searched over and over again.

Without being seen, Keitarou was able to put it on a spot.

"It looks like you left it here, on the desk."

She took the apparatus trying to remember in what moment she had put it there: her short memory hadn't registered such event. Since she couldn't do it, she forgot about it. She wouldn't waste any more time on little details like that one.

The best thing would be to turn her phone off to ensure there wouldn't be any more distractions. Before doing so, the RINE alerts went off showing a notification: a message from Okabe Rintarou. She thought she should run away from the temptation of getting into the conversation with him, but believing it could be something important, she decided to read it:

«_Okabe Rintarou:_

_Assistant, I need you to report your status, location and current activity. It's a life or death matter._»

What was up with that man now? Why was he so interested on whatever she was doing?

«_Makise Kurisu:_

_Safe and sound at the RIKEM. I was trying to get to work on my experiments until a mad scientist with a marked stalker tendency interrupted me._»

She hoped that Okabe wasn't turning into a real stalker, or they'd have some serious issues if they became a couple.

_«Okabe Rintarou:_

_Good to know. Be very careful and let me know if you notice anything strange with the Steins;Gate. Over and out._»

He was acting strange again. Kurisu thought it could simply be her paranoia, but the tone in which the message was written, she had a bad feeling about it.

«_Makise Kurisu:_

_Okabe, is there something wrong? Respond._»

He did it quickly.

«_Okabe Rintarou:_

_I'm not sure yet, but if John Titor is here, there's the possibility that the future is submerged in darkness. I'll find out about it. Wish me luck, Christina._»

«_Makise Kurisu:_

_John Titor? Who is that supposed to be? Can you explain what's going on?_»

But Okabe didn't reply to her comment, which probably meant that there wasn't really anything to worry about.

Kurisu had to resume her work again. However, once the conversation between them started, perhaps this was her chance to set up a meeting with Okabe. That way, she'd find an excuse to 'casually' confess what she felt for him.

«_Makise Kurisu:_

_I'll be attentive to everything and I'll let you know if anything strange happens. Good luck with your inquiries._»

It'd be best to go along with his nonsense for now.

«_Makise Kurisu:_

_Changing the subject: I was thinking about a new future gadget. Perhaps it's too soon, but could we meet next weekend in Akihabara? I'd like to discuss the details with just you._»

She realized that maybe she had been too direct with her intentions and felt the need to fix it.

«_Makise Kurisu:_

_I mean, it's not like I want to be with you alone or anything like that, but maybe it could be a surprise for the other members._»

And it would be: a very strange surprise for everyone, except Mayuri, who was very well aware it wasn't about any future gadget.

She soon got a response.

«_Okabe Rintarou:_

_Ok._»

"'Ok'? Will that be all that idiot say?" Kurisu said with indignation. "Does he think I'm his mother to reply like that?"

Keitarou looked at her with curiosity after her exclamation and she understood it was time to stop with the messages.

"I'm sorry, Usui-san. It'll be best to get to work; we have a lot to do.

Makise Kurisu turned her phone off. She'd take care of her business with Okabe Rintarou very soon, in person and alone.


	6. Chapter 6

**Translation: RFLP **(with the help of Google Translate and DeepL)

**Revision and correction: Luf5**

Thanks to MH020 and drak3n for the reviews in Chapter 4 and 5.

RFLP

* * *

**Chapter 6**

**Part-time warrior**

_Saturday, October __13th__, 2012_

Why couldn't things be normal? Why couldn't they be together on "relatively reasonable" terms?

Despite being a rigorous scientist, Makise Kurisu had fallen in love with a man as peculiar as that: full of delusions and conspiracy theories, who claimed to have traveled back in time to save her. Her past self would have liked to continue denying it longer, but Kurisu was willing to accept her feelings.

Not only that, she was determined to enjoy the time that chemical cocktail lasted in her brain if Okabe Rintarou would let her. Why not, if it was free? Evolution put it there for a reason. Having dates and physical contact, with a repertoire full of holding hands walks, hugs, kisses... and even sex. There was nothing to be ashamed of, she was of age and no one could complain to her if all she wanted was to have a little fun.

However, there would be no more confessions of love. Because beyond the nicknames, the pretentious speech, the "Hououin Kyouma" role playing, the lack of seriousness and tact in dealing with women, beyond what she would be willing to endure as long as she was with Okabe Rintarou, there was a limit to everything.

And this: this was too much.

"The coast is clear," said Okabe after analyzing the interior of the establishment. "There will be no danger if we stay here."

They were now at the "May Queen Nyan Nyan_", _perhaps the last place she would have wanted to visit that day. Okabe Rintarou had come in first to confirm that there was no one known: Mayuri was working in the bakery, Faris was home practicing for her final battle and he knew that Daru would be in the lab. Without them present, they could have their talk.

The two sat face to face at a table and placed their order with the cat-eared waitress. But instead of settling down next to them, the teenager who was still standing next to Okabe Rintarou, preferred to steer her course back to the exit.

"Where do you think you're going?" Okabe called.

"To search for the IBN," the teenager replied.

It was clear that she did not wish to stay and listen to the content of the talk.

"All right, Clarissa, you can go. But don't go too far and come back as soon as possible."

The girl nodded implying that she would obey the order and then withdrew.

"Clarissa? Did you already change her name Okabe? Though I am not surprised coming from you," Kurisu commented.

Her tone of voice gave away that she was still upset by the unusual company.

"Clarissa was already her name when I met her," Okabe replied without further explanation. "But if you want to know, assistant, I myself baptized her with the title 'envoy of chaos'."

Envoy of Chaos? For some reason, as ridiculous as it sounded, that kind of denomination was consistent with the situation. "Chaos" was what Kurisu felt, more than half an hour ago, when it all started.

She had specified in RINE that her meeting with Okabe Rintarou was to be at UPX alone, but he had turned up in the company of the teenager. What was he doing walking around with a schoolgirl? How dare he take her to their scheduled appointment?

What was his excuse?

The first thing Kurisu did was ask him who she was and she soon got an answer:

"Your Daughter?!" exclaimed Kurisu in surprise. She was expecting any kind of nonsense but that.

Okabe Rintarou's face indicated that he wasn't making it up. He looked rather worried, as if he didn't have the right words to explain the matter.

Makise Kurisu carefully examined the unknown girl. She had very abundant and straight jet black hair, adorned by a headband with a bow. On her forehead, her bangs fell unevenly over the two large light brown eyes. She wore a pink sweater so long that it reached her knees, under which there were black tights. She had a pair of red and white _Converze AllStar _shoes and finally, she had an incomplete necklace with the dark half of the yin yang.

Although her facial features were still childlike, she and Kurisu were almost the same height. This indicated to Kurisu that she could not be a little girl.

"This girl's no less than 12 years old, Okabe. You couldn't have been a father at 8, it's biologically impossible!"

Maybe not quite. There were exceptional cases of paternity at early ages, but if he had truly been a father as a child, it would be best to rush to make a report to the police to open a child abuse investigation.

"No," Okabe replied. "She's 14, at least in 2036. She's come from the future in a time machine."

Kurisu gave him a hostile look, implying that she did not believe anything he had said, while he thought about how to continue.

"If you don't believe me, ask her yourself."

The young scientist understood that it would be best to corroborate the information on her own. She turned to the girl who had remained silent. Seeking to maintain her serenity, although without much trace of sympathy in her voice, she decided to greet her:

"Nice to meet you. I'm Makise Kurisu, what's your name?"

"Okabe Shizuka," she replied.

Certainly, Okabe Rintarou and she shared the same last name.

"Okabe Shizuka-san, can you please tell me when and where you were born?"

"December 22, 2021, Vancouver Hospital."

Vancouver? That was in western Canada, which was strange, because Okabe was a typical citizen who rarely left his home country. She didn't think he knew how to locate that city on the map. Moreover, if her mental calculations did not fail again, it was 9 years and 2 months before the date she named.

"Tell me, are you Okabe Rintarou's daughter?" Kurisu asked intrigued, wanting to hear it from her own mouth.

Shizuka shook her head back and forth, implying that the information was not correct.

But if it wasn't, then why did Okabe say that...?

"Of the real Hououin Kyouma," Shizuka added later.

There was a brief silence where all Kurisu did was sigh.

"That's it, I'm out of here."

She turned around. It was clear that Okabe had allied himself with the stranger to play a trick on her, but she was not about to let him or anyone else tease her. But before she could leave, the mad scientist held her by the arm.

"Don't react like that, assistant, I'm even surprised," he said, trying to hold her back. "She showed up at the lab and when I found out who she was I had no choice but to bring her with me. Even I don't know what she's up to."

"You're telling me this isn't another one of your dumb inventions? That you're not doing it for attention?" Kurisu replied, tugging at her coat to free herself.

"This is as real as the theory of relativity! Why would a mad scientist make up something as ridiculous as this? Being a parent goes against my desires to bring this world to chaos!"

There was an unusual pleading tone in Okabe Rintarou's voice that caused Makise Kurisu to consider that he was not enjoying the situation. It couldn't be a joke, at least not his. He was right: parenthood was not Hououin Kyouma's style at all.

That girl was the only one to blame? Kurisu stopped fighting and headed back to the stranger.

"If Okabe Rintarou is your father, who's your mother?"

But this time Shizuka did not respond at all. She didn't seem willing to share that information.

"She won't say it, I asked several times in the lab," Okabe interrupted. "I imagine it's some kind of security measure."

"I don't understand, would knowing change the future? Or is she lying to us and that's why she doesn't want to answer?" Kurisu asked suspiciously.

"I don't think she has any reason to lie, but I'm not interested in finding out much about her background either. If it's unavoidable, I'll find out on my own."

Okabe was trying not to seem interested in how he would conceive a daughter in the future. Even for a mad scientist, the subject was embarrassing to deal with, so he preferred to put it aside.

"I have been commissioned to monitor her and discover what she wants at this time, but I have no idea what to do with her. That's why I need your help, Christina."

"There is no 'tina'," Kurisu said, wanting to reproach him, but soon abandoned the idea.

Rather than getting into an argument over details, she needed a good explanation of what was going on. That's how they decided to go to the May Queen for a chat.

"So, I hope you'll tell me how you met that girl Okabe," Kurisu demanded.

"It's a long story. It has been a week of strange events," he replied.

"I have enough time to hear everything. My plans for today have been completely canceled," Kurisu answered, looking out the window and stirring her drink. She found it hard to believe that this was happening on the day of her "love confession".

Okabe Rintarou searched his memory: after the events of the previous Saturday with Jumping Rabbit, he had decided to return to the laboratory that same Tuesday. That day he met an old acquaintance.

* * *

_Tuesday, October 9th, 2012_

A tall, muscular man was lowering some boxes from a pickup into a shop on the streets of Akihabara, when from the direction of the station, a student in a lab coat walked up.

"Look, if it's Okabe-kun," he said. "Did you come to pay the rent? Remember it's due on the 10th of this month."

Tennoji Yuugo was the proud owner of a CRT TV workshop, which was his greatest passion. He was also the owner of the building where the "Future Gadget Laboratory" operated, run by its great leader, the self-proclaimed mad scientist "Hououin Kyouma".

"Mr. Braun, you should know that paper money is considered archaic and that the laboratory is willing to give way to the future," said Okabe, looking for a way to avoid it. "I told our accountant to transfer the full amount to your bank account, but the funds may take a while to arrive, as the lab's coffers are housed overseas for the protection of the Organization."

The truth is that the mad scientist had forgotten the payment date and had to talk to the other members to collect the money and leave it, as he used to do, in an envelope on the shop counter. That way they would prevent the imminent eviction.

"So what are you doing here on a weekday? Bored studying? If so, I must take away your college discount," said the man, perhaps jokingly, perhaps seriously.

But Okabe Rintarou was passing by the lab to pick up the University's printed materials that he left the previous Saturday. Since he had evacuated the place in a hurry, he hadn't taken it before he left. That Tuesday he remembered that he needed it to complete the work for his "Advanced Electronics" teacher to get the extra points, plus the letter of recommendation he wanted within Operation Ausland (the German word for "abroad").

His right hand Daru had entered the laboratory a couple of hours the day before, and notified him by message that there were no visible changes. It seemed that no one had perpetrated the lab the time it was empty, and when the computer was turned on there was no trace of the hacking. The possible Jumping Rabbit's malware was removed when the system was rebooted, because it could not find traces of the malicious code it had used to take control of the computer. After confirming this, he went to meet some acquaintances at an offline computer security meeting: the sports and health day holiday was a good excuse to talk about programming and not exercise at all.

Besides, if Mr. Braun, suspected of being a rounder_,_ didn_'_t seem interested in them beyond the payment of the rent, perhaps Okabe had exaggerated the possible danger. There was no reason to suspect that SERN was behind them, so he would terminate the restraining order.

He was about to go upstairs to enter the building, but he was interrupted.

"Hey, come here a minute Okabe-kun" Tennoji stopped him. "You know, since Moeka-chan went to Hokkaido and my smart Nae is in school, I haven't been able to run the business by myself. I thought it would soon be time to throw in the towel with the store, but I got a call from a girl who is a CRT enthusiast and wanted to work here."

"A girl? Working in this dump full of old junk?" Okabe said.

"Be careful what you say about my beloved Braun tubes, or do you want me to double your rent, Mr. 'Account in Switzerland'?"

Okabe Rintarou shut up. He knew he didn't want to say anything or the financial penalties would be serious.

"I interviewed her this morning and decided to give her the job. She is very energetic and has developed a very good physical condition, if you know what I mean," said the man, holding him by the shoulders. "Look, I'll introduce you to her."

Okabe didn't seem to be interested in the tastes of that slimy old man. He knew that if his "beloved" Nae was there to see him, he would surely act differently.

Besides, what kind of girl would be interested in old TVs? She was probably some kind of retro technology fanatic, one of those people who go to places like that to get classic models or parts_. S_uch a profile would not be bad to incorporate into the laboratory, however, the recruitment of new members was closed for the time being.

Tennoji Yuugo shouted into the store asking the person there to step outside for a moment. The young woman was carrying a large, heavy box on some shelves. When she heard the man, she left it on the floor and went out, dusting off the "I love CRTs" apron that previously belonged to Kiryuu Moeka.

"New employee, this guy is Okabe Rintarou" Mr Braun introduced him. "He rents the apartment upstairs with his friends and they usually make a lot of noise. He also likes to recruit beautiful women for his experiments, so be careful. If you neglect it, he'll make you a member of his lab, like he did with my former employee."

The young woman laughed at her boss' comments and then greeted the mad scientist:

"Nice to meet you, Okabe Rintarou. I am Amane Suzuha."

Two braids that fell on either side of her face. Golden eyes. Sportswear, although in a curious military green. Approximately 18 years old.

"Suzuha? Amane Suzuha?" Okabe asked.

"That's right. Amane Suzuha is my name."

"You're... here. Now…"

He approached her and grabbed her braids: they looked very real. They were not the product of an illusion. She was the same Amane Suzuha he remembered, the same one he had seen fading into a rainbow.

"What's your problem, Okabe? Don't harass my new employee!" Tennoji interrupted him. "You act like you've seen a ghost, have you two met before?"

Okabe neither affirmed nor denied the question, he was simply stunned to see Daru's daughter, who was not due to be born until 2017, standing before his eyes again. He didn't know how to react to the situation.

"He must be mistaking me for someone else," replied Suzuha. "I know there are some Amane living around here, but I'm new to the area and this is the first time I've seen him."

Perhaps choosing her mother's maiden name was not the best option, since it might sound familiar to Okabe Rintarou. At that time, Amane Yuki was already in contact with Hashida Itaru, although they were not yet a formal couple. However, there was no way his Uncle Okarin could suspect her true identity. His confusion must have been because she and her mother shared a physical resemblance, nothing more. They could pass for distant relatives. Also, she didn't like the idea of using a false name like Keitarou did. She thought she'd feel bad about herself, that's why she chose to be Amane Suzuha.

"Whatever. It is time to return to the rodeo," Tennoji added, changing the subject. "Don't try anything strange with her Okabe, and remember I want the money tomorrow."

The man grabbed one of the boxes on the floor and entered the store, leaving them alone.

"I have to get back to work too, Okabe Rintarou. But you know? Now that we know each other, I'd like you to tell me about that lab you have up there," said the girl with the braids, pointing to the mailbox that clearly reads 'Future Gadget Lab'.

"The lab? Is that why you came?" Okabe asked.

"I must admit I'm curious to know what this 'future gadgets' is all about. Can you tell me about it or is there some sort of test I need to pass? Because you know, I'm very good at challenges, no matter if they're physical or mental. I have a comrade with whom we usually compete in shogi_; _sometimes he makes it difficult for me, but in the end I always win. I'm also a black belt in judo and I like to play sports." Amane Suzuha was chatting cheerfully, although none of her comments were answered. The silence of his interlocutor caught her attention. "Hey Okabe Rintarou, is something wrong with you? You don't look so good, your face is pale."

Her Uncle Okarin was acting strange. From what she remembered, he had no problem interacting with strangers (in fact, it was his uncle Okarin who handled all the negotiations for the SME that he and her father had) but his younger version seemed much more uneasy in her presence.

"Amane!" shouted the boss inside the shop.

"I'm going!" She replied and turned back to Okabe. "We'll talk some other time, OK?"

The girl entered to continue working while Okabe Rintarou could only follow her with his eyes.

When he regained his sense of reality, the mad scientist ran upstairs and after looking for his keys, entered the laboratory in a hurry. His heart was beating very fast while he felt nausea throughout his body: it was the same symptom of PTSD he had experienced years ago, when he remembered the death scenes he had witnessed.

_Had the worldline changed_? Had it returned to the "alpha" or "beta" attractor fields? If it's Mayuri or Kurisu, one of them...

He leaned against the door and took a deep breath to regain his composure. He was able to stop his nervousness before he released all his stomach contents.

"Calm down Kyouma, things may not be as bad as last time," he told himself.

He had not felt any activation of his Reading Steiner_, _which indicated that they should continue on the "Steins;Gate", the perfect worldline that he had sought with all his might.

He tried to call Mayuri to make sure he was safe. On the alpha attractor field, where Suzuha first returned, Mayuri would die irretrievably in August 2010. He had to rule out that possibility.

_"Tuturu! It's Mayushii! I can't talk at the moment, but..."_

He hung up as soon as he heard the answering machine. That was wrong: he had to find a way to find out her condition. At least her cell phone was working, although that didn't guarantee she was out of danger. Should he try to keep calling her? Maybe at some point Mayuri would answer.

After a couple of attempts he received a message from RINE:

**«**_Mayuri:_

_Okarin, I'm working and I can't attend to you._

_Please don't get Mayushii fired _**{{(_) }}»**

There would be no point bothering her more than necessary. It was enough to know that she was fine.

**«**_Hououin Kyouma:_

_Don't worry, your message was enough for now._

_Keep up the good work._**»**

Maybe later he could pick her up at the bakery to make sure she gets home.

However, his hostage was not the only person threatened by the convergences. In the beta attractor field, Makise Kurisu would be killed at the end of July 2010 on Radio Kaikan. Suzuha beta had returned to prevent this from happening.

Would he call her assistant? No, he had to be sensible, rushing would make him make mistakes. If she was working, she'd refuse his call too. He chose to text her. Fortunately, Kurisu responded quickly: she was safe and sound at the RIKEM. Due to Kurisu's nature, she became curious to know what was going on. Okabe told her something about John Titor, but he wouldn't give him any more details. He was the one who needed to find answers himself.

A final text message from her assistant caught his attention: she wanted to talk to him about a new future gadget next weekend, but he only responded with _a _quick "Ok". At that moment, he had an even more important issue to resolve first.

That's how he corroborated the status of each of the members. Apparently there was nothing to worry about, none of them noticed anything unusual in their daily lives. So why, why was Amane Suzuha back there? There must have been a reason.

Her appearance could be a prelude to future problems. Besides, if she had been able to go back to the past, the time machine must have been invented in that worldline as well. An object as dangerous as that, which led humanity into war or slavery, should never exist, unless the future needs to be corrected in some way. And although Radio Kaikan had been demolished and the new building was not finished yet, that had not prevented it from landing in Akihabara again.

He spent some time speculating on possible reasons, until he looked out the window. Mr. Braun's truck had vanished. Instead, Amane Suzuha swept the front of the store, turning to either side of the street to make sure no one was watching. When the girl noticed that she was alone, she focused her attention on the bike that was leaning against the wall and started to clean it, neglecting the rest of her work.

That perhaps would be the best chance for Okabe Rintarou. He looked for a small box that was covered with dust on one of the shelves in the development room, and after cleaning it, he put it in his lab coat pocket. He knew that element would be useful for his purpose.

Then he took out his cell phone and held it, with the screen blocked, to his ear:

"It's me. I'm about to embark on a dangerous mission. Yes, I plan to gain John Titor's trust to tell me what will happen in the future. Don't let anyone get in the way: cut off all streets around the lab and disable all electronics within a hundred square meters. A leak of information could be dangerous if it falls into enemy hands. El. Psy. Congroo."

Although he no longer took the content of his words seriously, he maintained that ritual as a way of giving himself confidence, even though it irritated Makise Kurisu.

When he felt ready, he went down the stairs of the building.

"Hello again Okabe Rintarou," Suzuha said when she saw him, "are you feeling better now?"

"That's right," he replied. "I just didn't expect to see a part-time warrior around. I must admit, that move took me by surprise."

"Part-time warrior?" Suzuha repeated and soon she was laughing. "It's a very funny nickname! I'll take it."

She was sure her comrades would be pleased too, especially Katsuragi and Kiyotaka. She was one of the soldiers of the "Valkyrie Resistance", the best airsoft team that could exist in the whole Kanto region. It was made up of college students who liked to put together games on weekends, vacations and holidays, and liked to call themselves "warriors" who fought for justice (even though they only did it for fun).

"By the way, where's Mr Braun?" Okabe asked.

"You mean the boss? He got a call and had to leave, but he left me in charge of the store. Would you like to come in? We can talk inside while I clean," she offered.

The situation was perfect: there was no danger if that man was not present. The two entered the shop, where several of the televisions were on the same news channel. Suzuha began to dust them off as they talked.

"Have you come to tell me what I must do to become part of the lab? As long as it's not something too perverted I'm prepared to try," she added, who was willing to fulfill her mission at almost any price.

"That won't be necessary, because you are already a member of the lab," Okabe said.

Was it that easy? Keitarou would be happy to know that she had been able to infiltrate without problems. Now all that remained was to ask about what they were inventing, and as soon as she got the information her friend was looking for, they could continue their journey to other times.

"So, will you tell me about your next creation? I'd like to cooperate."

"First things first," Okabe said, offering the box in his pocket. "This belongs to you."

Hashida Suzuha left her cleaning duties and opened the small box with caution and curiosity. Inside it there was a kind of pin in the shape of a gear. The truth is that in the future she had a similar one in her possession, but in a different form, acronym and year.

"It's very nice, but what does "OSHMKUFA 2010" mean?" she asked.

As she recalled, the acronym of her own plaque was: "OSHMKUFHHOOS 2035". Beyond the latest additions, it was the change of initial in the eighth position that most caught her attention.

"The initials of Okabe, Shiina, Hashida, Makise, Kiryuu, Urushibara, Faris and finally Amane. Those are the members of the lab from that year."

The badge needed updating since Hiyajo Maho had joined in early 2012 as lab member number 009, but that was a different story.

"I see, there's another Amane in your lab," said Suzuha, smiling.

In the future, Keitarou and Suzuha were struck by the fact that she was member 008, while Hiyajo Maho, who had joined before the birth of both, was member 009. Her Uncle Okarin never explained to them what such an order was about, but it made sense if there was ever an Amane: as far as Suzuha knew, her mother had never been an official member in the future, but perhaps she was formerly number 008 and decided to leave that place to her daughter.

Giving up membership in the lab didn't make much sense, but thinking about it that way, it was a logical explanation.

"No, member 008 was and will always be Amane Suzuha," he said. "She joined us in 2010, although she was not yet born at that time and so her pin badge was stored."

Until that day.

"Okabe Rintarou, that's a bit of a silly story," Suzuha interrupted. "How can someone integrate something without being born? Are you some kind of joker?"

She was trying to act natural despite the strange attitude offered by her uncle Okarin in the past. She had a suspicion that something unusual was going on.

"It's unbelievable for any mortal, but not for someone who has experienced the power of time travel firsthand. Or is it not, John Titor?"

Suzuha opened her eyes when she heard the words "time travel". Then she spent a short moment thinking about her answer.

"I don't understand what you're talking about. Time travel? Is that possible?"

"It is if you have a time machine in your possession," Okabe replied.

"Time machine?" Suzuha repeated, "Like those in science fiction movies? Because I'm not a big fan of that genre, although I do know someone who likes those kinds of stories a lot."

Suzuha was now certain that her uncle Okarin from the past somehow knew what they had done. After all, he had been one of the inventors of the time machine, so it was to be expected that he would know of its existence.

Still, as a good soldier, she knew when someone was trying to get information out of her and how to avoid it. Uncle Okarin probably didn't know the details of their trip: instead, he talked about an Amane Suzuha that appeared in 2010. She did not remember that they had visited that time or that Keitarou had any intention of going that year. Therefore, until she knew more about the matter, she would not answer him with the truth.

Keitarou had also been very specific that they should not reveal their identity under any circumstances.

Okabe Rintarou preferred to be more direct with his approach. He wanted to make Suzuha understand that he knew who she was and that she could trust him.

"Are the names Hashida Itaru and Amane Yuki familiar to you? Have you come for them? Is their future in danger?"

"I don't know who you're talking about, are they other members of the lab? If so, I'd like to meet them."

Suzuha responded by trying to hide the fact that these names were familiar to her.

"Then what are you doing here? If not for your parents, I imagine there will be other kinds of problems in the year 2036."

"2036? Isn't that 24 years away?"

Okabe Rintarou realized that Amane Suzuha was avoiding his questions one by one and soon lost his patience. Maybe she wanted to hide her identity for some reason, but whatever happened, she couldn't play with something as delicate as the future.

"Stop acting, Suzuha. I know very well that you are a time traveler," said Okabe. "You must trust me and tell me what you're looking for this time. If there is danger in the Steins;Gate, whether it is a world war or a dystopia, we will find a way to solve it."

Suzuha was silent for another moment. After meditating on her answer, she put her hands behind her back and gave her uncle Okarin a big smile.

"You really are a very funny person, Okabe Rintarou. But you should know that I work here because I like Braun tubes and future gadgets, there's nothing more to it than that," she replied, keeping her tone cheerful. "Instead, it seems you do have an interesting story to tell, or am I wrong?"

But Okabe didn't answer the question either. If Suzuha didn't tell what her purpose was in that year, he wouldn't tell her about his previous meeting either. The two of them stared at each other in silence for a long time. That was a mental challenge: a challenge to see which one would break first and confess everything, but none were willing to give in.

On the televisions that covered the room, the news channel flashed the news. The headline "_A Jumping Rabbit Breaks into Akihabara Commercial District" _caught the attention of Okabe Rintarou, who forgot about Suzuha and turned to the screen. Seeing it too, Suzuha took the remote control to turn up the volume.

The reporter was at the entrance of a large building where people came and went without stopping.

"_We're at the Yodobashi Camera branch in Akiba, where a hacker under the pseudonym JumpingRabbit011 has taken control of the well-known electronics giant's Intranet. Employees report that the system is locked and they cannot perform any operations. On the screens, both of the vendors and those located in view of the public, you can read a message where the Rabbit requests that "any information be sent to him" in order to locate an IBN5100. At the end of his order, he leaves a personal email as a contact._

_The Tokyo police have warned that no message should be sent to the Rabbit's contact, to avoid possible personal attacks. Our sources report that this hacker had previously broken into the popular __text board__ page ' channel', where he was also looking for the aforementioned device._

_The IBN5100 is a personal computer that was released in 1975 and retired in 1982. Currently there are not many units available on the market. Among its functionalities, there is the ability to use both BASIC and APL programming languages..."_

As the announcer described the characteristics of the model, she interrupted her speech to put her hand on her right ear. She was listening through an earpiece.

_"We have breaking news: it appears that the attack by JumpingRabbit011 has been stopped. The Yodobashi system is being reestablished as we speak. However, the computer division of the police will continue to investigate the incident until the culprit is found"_

When the note ended, the channel went to commercial break and Okabe turned back to Suzuha.

"That's right, aren't you looking for the IBN5100 too, part-time warrior?"

"IBN5100? Isn't it an obsolete model?" She asked. "Why would I want something like it?"

She had traveled to the past twice to find that computer, but this time Okabe could sense that Suzuha was not lying to him about her answer. It also didn't seem like she was responsible for the attack on Yodobashi, given that she had been in the store all along.

If so, who was this Jumping Rabbit? What did he want with the IBN5100? Mr. Braun had left the store in response to a call, would that be a setup by the rounders to get information about an IBN5000?

Hashida Suzuha thought she recognized the name "Jumping Rabbit". She knew there was a popular series of light novels under that name. The series featured a gray rabbit, with the ability to 'jump between dimensions' and thereby alter the balance of the universe. He carried out his adventures in the company of other anthropomorphic animals. Its atmosphere was gloomy, the endings were not always happy, and many characters were always damaged by Jumping Rabbit's irresponsibility in using his power. Despite its controversies, the plot was later adapted to manga and anime, gaining a strange popularity.

Hashida Suzuha also knew that the first novel had only been published in the mid-2020s, so there was only a fan of that work who might have known that name at the time, and who was a skilled hacker too. The only individual capable of making those kinds of moves.

Suzuha's cell phone rang. She looked at the name on the screen: it was the same person she was thinking about.

"Hello. Huh? Yes, it's me," she answered. "Yes, I know her. Yeah, she lives with me. What?! She did what?! Yes, I understand. I'll be right there," She hung up and addressed the mad scientist. "Excuse me, but I can't talk to you anymore now. We'll continue our talk another day."

The part-time warrior took off her apron and sped off without Okabe being able to stop her.

The place had been left unsupervised and it was about an hour before the new employee walked back down the street with her bike. She was accompanied by a girl younger than her. When they arrived at the CTR store, they saw a person waiting on the bench in front of the window.

"Are you still here?" Suzuha asked.

The mad scientist pointed to the wide open door of the shop, implying that he had been watching it all along. No one had been there the whole time and he doubted that there was a person with the intention of stealing an old TV. But beyond that, Okabe had remained there with the thought that sooner or later, Suzuha would have to return and he would not leave without answers. Neither the university, nor any other responsibility he had was more important.

It wasn't a good time to find him back. Suzuha had no choice but to take Okabe Shizuka to work with her: she was beginning to distrust what the teenager was capable of if she kept letting her walk around town alone. She didn't want her to ruin her brother's whole plan, but now she was facing her father from the past and that could be dangerous. She watched her: luckily, Shizuka didn't seem very interested in talking.

Okabe, on the other hand, did seem surprised to see Suzuha in company.

"Who's your friend?"

"She? She's just an acquaintance of mine."

Shizuka didn't add anything. Okabe had a feeling: as far as he knew, Suzuha had no friends in the past besides them.

"Are you here with the part-time warrior? Come from the future too?" Okabe asked.

"Again with that time travel story? You really have a great imagination, Okabe Rintarou," said Suzuha, wanting to divert his attention.

But Okabe thought that if Suzuha was not willing to cooperate, he would find a way to make her partner confess everything. In the worst case, he could always pretend it was another of his delusions.

"Hey, don't stare at me like that and answer! Don't you know who the hell you're talking to?" He pressured her to talk.

"Okabe Rintarou," replied Shizuka.

Amane Suzuha had been repeating his name over and over again since they met. That strange girl must have heard it too.

"Okabe Rintarou is just an alias to confuse the enemy. My true identity is that of the mad scientist who will bring chaos and destruction to the world, the great Hououin Kyouma!"

He said the last thing doing his pose and then looked at the stranger girl, asking with his eyes for confirmation that she had understood everything. Shizuka nodded.

"Fine. Now that you've understood, I need you to tell me your intention and the reason for your visit at this time. If you don't, you could be in grave danger and I'm not ensuring your personal safety."

Shizuka replied:

"El. Psy. Congroo."

These words took Okabe by surprise, who approached her bewildered, and took her by the shoulders.

"What? What did you say?"

"The password," she answered.

That girl also came from the future: there was no doubt about it.

"Who are you? How do you know the password? What are you doing here? What's your objective? Say it!" exclaimed Okabe Rintarou, shaking her as he poured out a torrent of questions.

Despite the shaking, Okabe Shizuka remained unchanged and silent. But after a few minutes she started feeling dizzy and opened her mouth trying to pronounce a few words. Before she could do so, another scream stopped her:

"Don't say anything Shizuka!" exclaimed Suzuha.

"Shizuka? Is that your name?" Okabe asked, releasing her.

As she regained her balance, the girl moved her head up and down, indicating that that was her name. Amane Suzuha stood between the two Okabe.

"Okabe Rintarou, let me get this straight. You know me, right? I mean, if you've seen me before or if we've talked in the past."

"You could say we met a long time ago," he replied.

In another worldline, but they had met at last. While this Suzuha was different: there was no reason for her to keep the memories of the alpha and beta attractor fields.

"But clearly you're not the same Amane Suzuha I met in 2010."

"I'd like to hear that story," added Suzuha, reflecting, though she soon changed the subject. "But there's something that interests me even more: you know me, but don't you recognize this girl? I mean, you really don't know who she is?" She asked, surprised that he could identify his best friend's daughter but not his own.

Okabe examined the girl in front of him. This one stared at him with her big light brown eyes in silence. It gave him a chill: that intense look was familiar to him, but he couldn't explain why.

"I've never seen her before."

After the response Hashida Suzuha looked at Okabe Shizuka and then at Okabe Rintarou. She alternated between the two with her hand on her chin, until finally she had an idea and turned to the man:

"What do you say if you and I do a little information exchange?"

Information exchange? The fact confused Okabe a little, did that mean she would finally talk?

"It's true, I'm a time traveler, you're not wrong about that," Suzuha said. "I need to hear what you know about me, or what I came here to do in 2010, if I was really here."

"Good, but if it's going to be a trade, then..."

"I could tell you a couple of interesting things about the future."

That was a good opportunity. The motivations of the present Suzuha could hold an important issue about the fate of Steins;Gate, so Okabe agreed to make such an exchange.

"It's decided! The exchange of information will take place tomorrow at this same place after 1100 hours," said Suzuha.

"Tomorrow? Why not now?"

"You see, I have to do something else first. It is a necessary step for us to make the exchange smoothly," said Suzuha.

She wanted to have a long private talk with Okabe Shizuka, to rebuke her for what had happened that day, and to make sure she would not ruin her strategy. She didn't want her to call her brother either; Keitarou certainly would never approve of what Suzuha was planning to do, especially now that she had confessed to Uncle Okarin that she was a time traveler. But it was a step she felt was necessary in order to obtain information that could be very valuable for their purposes.

"What about the store?" Okabe asked, looking for an excuse to keep them from retiring.

"I'll close it. After all, no one comes to buy CRT TVs, right? Even in this time they're out of fashion."

Suzuha lowered the curtain, closed the door and prepared to leave in the company of Shizuka, who put up no resistance. But Okabe Rintarou did not wish to be left empty-handed.

"Wait Suzuha! I have one last question for you," he said, drawing their attention. "Shiina Mayuri and Makise Kurisu, in the future they are..."

He stopped before he could say what he thought. It was a difficult idea to express. Suzuha looked at him curiously.

"What do you want to know, Okabe Rintarou?"

"They're still alive?"

Suzuha looked up at the sky. She found the question a bit strange, but she didn't think there was any problem in answering it.

"I don't know what it is about, but yes, Makise Kurisu and Shiina Mayuri are fine."

Okabe sighed with relief. That's all he needed to know.

Finally the two girls walked away, leaving him alone.

* * *

_Saturday October 13__th,__ 2012_

"Amane Suzuha, the future daughter of Hashida Itaru," Kurisu repeated as she reviewed the facts in her mind.

"Do you remember her?" Okabe asked intrigued. "You met her in another worldline."

Did she remember her? Makise Kurisu felt that the name sounded familiar, but could not say where she had heard it. Perhaps in a dream? She closed her eyes: the image of two braids came to her mind, then followed by an image of what looked like an old satellite in the middle of a shattered building, and finally she saw... a black dragon fighting a white tiger? She didn't know why, but the name 'Amane Suzuha' didn't invoke pleasant feelings.

Okabe Rintarou remembered that they didn't usually have a good relationship: Suzuha "alpha" hated Makise Kurisu for being the one who would build the time machine that would allow SERN to create its dystopia. Although "beta" Suzuha had come back very interested in saving her to avoid World War III, Kurisu was lying unconscious on the floor in Okabe's blood when Suzuha took him back to the rooftop, so they could never talk. Be that as it may, Amane Suzuha's past travels were related to Makise Kurisu, although this case could be the exception.

"I don't know who she is," answered Kurisu. "However, how can such a nasty pervert like Hashida Itaru have a daughter in the future? I refuse to believe that's possible."

"Daru would be sad to hear you talk like that, Christina."

Even a hentai like him had feelings and it could be among his plans to start a family one day.

"It doesn't matter, after all we are talking about the future daughter of a self-proclaimed mad scientist," added Kurisu.

Okabe Shizuka was a physical person who had appeared before her own eyes. Kurisu could not deny her existence and she wanted to know more about Okabe Shizuka and why she was there.

"Let me see if I understood: your supposed daughter uttered those meaningless words you always say. Are you sure you didn't use them in front of her before?"

"I didn't. But I no longer have any doubt that I could have shown them to her myself in the future."

Makise Kurisu sighed.

"Well, will you keep telling me the rest of the story? What was the information you exchanged with this Amane Suzuha?"

Okabe recalled that he decided not to go home that Tuesday and slept in the lab waiting for the meeting.

The next morning, as she had stated, the part-time warrior returned to the CRT workshop.


	7. Chapter 7

**drak3n**: If you don't laugh once, it's badly written ;)

**Hellsink Bathhall: **The disclaimers are there because in general, most people look for fanfiction stories with romance, therefore, most of them are romances. I don't deny that my story will have romance at some point, but it's not the main theme, so I'm trying to avoid readers to get a bad taste, and instead I want people to read it because they're interested in the plot.

About the OCs, many people don't like them because many authors (not only in the fanfiction world) don't know how to develop characters. In general, a character is part of the world where he lives, and interacts with it under the same principles the others do, that's why I tried that Keitarou and Shizuka adapted to their parents' universe. I don't know if my version of Okabe and Kurisu's children is the best (I have read many) but I did it thinking about S;G original material, anime world in general, and of course, the purposes of my story. I always try that at least they can get along well with their parents, because the interaction of Okabe Rintarou and Makise Kurisu with their children is a crucial point in my plot.

Suzuha is also like an OC since she's been raised in a different way, but I try that she doesn't deviate too much from the original source.

**AdamSir: **The fanfic is now updated!

**Thanks for reading.**

* * *

**Chapter 7**

**Envoy of Chaos**

_Saturday, October 13, 2012_

After hearing Okabe Rintarou's order, Okabe Shizuka left the May Queen Nyan Nyan and headed down the street. Since she no longer had with her the portable microprocessor she had brought from the future, she had to abandon her virtual strategies and resort to analogical methods to find an IBN5100, such as visually examining computer stores and asking employees if they had information.

As she walked and not far from the cafe, she suddenly felt that she was being taken from behind and dragged against her will into one of the many alleys in Akihabara. The movement was so rapid that she could not escape, but although she was being abducted, Shizuka felt no fear. Nor did she cry out for help.

Instead, she decided to bite the attacker's arm.

"Ouch! What the hell are you doing?!"

In pain, the red-haired young man released her.

"Pervert onii-chan," she replied once she was free.

"Are you crazy? I couldn't imagine anything as disgusting as that!"

Okabe Keitarou was furious. Not only because his younger sister had bitten him and said a great deal of nonsense, but because he did not expect to find her there.

All the previous week, and thanks to the program he had installed, Keitarou spied on all the conversations of Makise Kurisu and Okabe Rintarou. For his peace of mind there were no "love messages" as Suzuha had said. Instead, much of what her parents exchanged through RINE was no different from the typical conversations they had in the future. After all, it seemed that arguing would entertain them: they could talk for several hours about a particular subject when they were both at home, even after a long day at work. But beyond the dynamics between them, what really interested Keitarou was a message from his mother saying that she had thought of a "future gadget" and wanted to discuss it with his father alone that same Saturday in Akihabara.

When the weekend came, Keitarou followed Kurisu from Wako Station, staying away from her long enough that she did not recognize him, but not so far that he lost sight of her. They both arrived at the UPX more than half an hour earlier than scheduled, and after waiting, they saw a young man in a lab coat arrive. Keitarou could recognize him (he was the same as always, only many years younger), but to his surprise, Okabe Rintarou was accompanied by no one else, no one less, than his younger sister.

From his position, he could not hear what the three were talking about, but his mother's disconcerted scream gave him a hint of what was going on:

"Your daughter?!"

Then he knew then that things had taken a bad turn. It was possible that his plan to stay hidden had been ruined by Shizuka, although this was perhaps a predictable outcome: her younger sister was a kind of misfortune caged in the body of a 14-year-old girl, and there was always the possibility that her nature would manifest if she was not properly contained.

Keitarou was to blame for releasing her in that time. Perhaps it would have been a better idea to leave her in 2036 with their grandparents, but as her older brother, he felt responsible for her care. He took her with him to the past thinking that she would be useful to him, and in return, he could help her solve her problems too.

"Can you explain to me what you were doing in there?" He asked his younger sister. "We didn't come all this way to have family meetings!"

"Okabe Rintarou brought me."

"I saw you come in with him! What I mean is how he knew that you…" But he stopped suddenly. There was one detail out of place in his younger sister's response that caught his attention. "Wait, did you just call him "Okabe Rintarou?"

Shizuka nooded.

That was not a trivial detail. His sister rarely used the name "Okabe Rintarou", unless she had to fill out a legal form. After all, "Hououin Kyouma" was a made-up nickname, a kind of self-designation that his father kept as a young man, not his real name. But for Okabe Shizuka, the distinction between "Hououin Kyouma" and "Okabe Rintarou" was crucial. It was not only an alias, but his true identity: the former was his real father, while the latter was only a kind of imposter. This fact was important to her, as was carrying the kanji "加" in her own name.

"Do you realize how ridiculous that hypothesis is?" he said. "Our father will always be the same, no matter what worldline we're on."

"Perhaps," Shizuka replied without contradicting him.

He could understand why his sister was not sure, but if they traveled to the past in a linear fashion, there was no reason to think that this Okabe Rintarou was not the same one they remembered from the future. Even though the worldlines might diverge from each other, when you went back within the same line you could expect the result to be at least similar. Of course, there were always other possibilities and Keitarou was aware that making significant changes could cause serious problems, but as long as his parents remained a couple in the future, there was no real danger to worry about.

However, explaining that to his sister would be a waste of time. For him, it was an advantage that she doubted her father: he could use that mistrust to his advantage.

"Okay, believe what you want Shizuka, but just to make sure, you didn't tell him I'm here too, did you?"

Shizuka shook her head side to side, leaving Keitarou satisfied. Having to deal with Okabe Rintarou would mean the failure of the plans: he must not know that his eldest son had also returned to the past.

Before he could say anything else, his sister was leaving the alley.

"Where are you going now?"

Shizuka looked at him for a second and then turned around to continue walking. With that, Keitarou knew that the answer was too obvious for her to bother pronouncing it: Shizuka did not like to waste words on minor details. He could try to stop her, but chasing his strange sister around Akihabara would not make any sense.

He then went back to the May Queen. From the front sidewalk, he could see his parents sitting at a table by the window, and although his mother might recognize him, this was no time to chicken out. He entered the establishment and asked for the table furthest away from the one they occupied. The place wasn't very big, but since he sat with his back to them, he didn't think his mother would see him.

Once settled down, he took out of his pocket the future gadget number 98, one of the few belongings he had brought from the future. To the naked eye, it looked like a simple wireless headset. However, its true function was to pick up wavelengths based on the angle and distance of the emission source and selectively amplify them. In other words: its ultimate goal was to listen in on other people's conversations. Its construction was an old summer project he had with his father as a child, when they got the idea for a spy movie. Who would have thought that he would now use it against him.

With the volume tuner, Keitarou searched for a voice known to all customers. When he found it, he amplified the signal and could hear how Okabe Rintarou was talking to Makise Kurisu.

He was telling her about what had happened that week: a story of how he found two time travelers.

* * *

_Wednesday, October 10, 2012_

Mid-morning, a visitor knocked on the door of the Future Gadget Lab, and Okabe Rintarou went to meet them. When he opened the door, he was able to corroborate that they were the same girls he had met the day before, and had promised to return.

"Good morning, Okabe Rintarou," greeted the girl with the braids and elbowed her partner.

"Good morning," said the second girl.

He returned the greeting.

A moment later, Okabe Shizuka entered the laboratory. She left a bag on the table, and finally sat on the couch. Rintarou noticed how she was hugging what looked like a stuffed animal: except that it had no head. It seemed to be inside the bag, because two elongated ears were sticking out of it.

"Suzuha, can you explain to me what's going on?"

The course of the events seemed suspicious, especially since the part-time warrior did not enter the lab as well. Instead, she had stood by the door.

"I'm sorry, but I can't talk now," replied Suzuha. "It seems that the boss is angry and wants to talk to me, could you wait a moment? I'll let you know when you can come down."

"And she's staying here?" Rintarou asked, talking about her partner.

"Oh, yes. Don't worry about that, I'm sure she won't do anything strange, right Shizuka?" Hashida Suzuha gave her a threatening look, but she didn't even look away: she just concentrated on looking at the ground in front of her. "Take care of her for a while for me."

Suzuha went downstairs, leaving Rintarou alone with the teenager.

"Your name is Shizuka, right?" He said.

She didn't respond, and she didn't even bother to look back at him. Rintarou didn't know if she had heard it or not, but anyway, the day before she had claimed that that was her name. Besides, Suzuha had just pronounced it again, so he didn't really have any doubts about it.

He was just trying to break the ice.

"Listen, I know you're from the future, so answer me: what are you and Suzuha doing in this year?" He asked.

But Shizuka remained unresponsive. She kept looking at a spot near the floor, where there did not seem to be anything outstanding worth looking at.

Okabe Rintarou had spoken loudly and clearly enough that a person in the development room could hear him, and he also knew that she was not deaf. He was a little annoyed.

"Stop ignoring me, or have you forgotten how to talk?"

"El. Psy. Kongroo." She said.

These were the same words she had said the day before in a similar situation. Rintarou's first reaction had been to shake her by the shoulders, but a day later he was no longer so surprised by the response.

"That's certainly the password. I can guess that you are not an agent of the Organization, nor are you an industrial spy, but tell me, do you and I know each other? Do we have any kind of relationship in the future?"

Shizuka raised her head only to look at it for a brief second and then lowered it again.

"That's not it." She said.

"What do you mean, 'that's not it'?" Rintarou asked.

"The answer."

Answer? What the hell was she talking about? He didn't understand what she meant, or what the whole thing was about. He kept pushing his questions, but he didn't get anything useful. She didn't seem to have any intention of talking to him.

He then remembered that he already had experience in dealing with a wide variety of strange people. There was, for example, the case of Kiryuu Moeka: she had serious problems with socializing and so she resorted to writing messages on her cell phone. Would Shizuka and Moeka be the same kind of person? If so, there was a useful strategy they could use.

"Look, if you have trouble talking, you can write here."

He offered her his own phone, where he had opened a note application. Shizuka looked up, picked the device, wrote a message, and then returned it to him.

There was only one word on the screen: "Hunger".

"What does this mean?" Rintarou asked confused.

"Hunger," said Shizuka.

"I can read! What I want to know is why you wrote this."

She didn't have to explain it, because the roar from her stomach was so loud that it echoed throughout the lab, giving hints of what the message meant.

She was very hungry. Even Rintarou hadn't noticed the state she was in before: her face was pale and her eyes no longer glowed as brightly as they did at their first meeting.

"I'm sorry to inform you that this place is a laboratory, not a restaurant," he said reproachfully. "But if you are so hungry, the only thing we have available is instant ramen, soy sauce or salt flavor."

"Salt," she replied.

Shizuka now watched him out of the corner of her eye. With that look, Rintarou understood very well what she wanted to say to him: "Prepare it."

That girl was a real pain in the ass. She would come into the lab as if she were a member and sit on the couch demanding to be fed, but why did he have to take care of her? Even when Suzuha had told him to take care of her, it wasn't his responsibility. Besides, she was old enough to prepare something as simple as instant ramen, but even so, she didn't seem to have any intention of doing it on her own.

However, if it was necessary to extract information from her, Rintarou decided to prepare the ramen bowl.

"Here you are," he said, placing the ready-made container on the table.

The girl got up from the chair, leaving the headless stuffed animal by the Upa first. Then she grabbed the chopsticks, which slipped clumsily between her fingers again and again hopelessly.

"We also have forks available," Rintarou said, offering a pink one with a rabbit on the tip.

"Thank you," she said.

"Now will you talk to me?" Rintarou asked.

But Shizuka ate her meal in silence.

He almost lost his patience with her when he was distracted by a scream from the window.

"Hey Okabe Rintarou!" Suzuha called. "You can come to the store now!"

Rintarou decided to go down, not without turning around, noticing that Shizuka didn't seem interested in following him. At that point, it was more important to talk to Suzuha, so he would deal with her later. On his way out, he locked the door to the lab to make sure she didn't escape.

The part-time warrior met him at the entrance of the store.

"I really thought I wouldn't get out of it," she said, smiling with relief. "You know, I almost got fired on my first day, but luckily the boss needed someone here."

The day before, Tennouji Yuugo had returned to the shop, finding it closed and no sign of his part-time employee. This had made him quite angry. Suzuha had managed to convince him not to fire her, but instead he would dock her a whole day's salary, plus he would have to work free overtime.

"By the way, the boss said to remind you that the rent is due today."

Okabe Rintarou couldn't care less about the matter.

"Do you know where Mr Braun went?"

It was already two days in a row that he was absent and the mad scientist needed to make sure he wasn't going to come back in the middle of a talk about time travel. As a SERN mercenary, it would be dangerous for them if he discovered Suzuha's true identity.

"I was able to hear a little bit of the call he got yesterday. It seems he has a sick relative. Today he told me that he had to go to the hospital for a couple of hours and that I shouldn't leave the store for anything."

Was that true? If Nae was sick, surely Mayuri would have found out and told everyone in the lab to go visit her. He also remembered that Mr. Braun had told him and Kurisu in the alpha attractor field that he was an orphan, in addition to being a widower. He didn't think he had any relatives, so it was probably some kind of lie that the rounders used to avoid creating suspicion.

They both entered the store and Hashida Suzuha sat on a large televisor.

"Well, it's about time we started our exchange of information!" She added with a smile. "Excuse me, is it all right if I call you "Uncle Okarin" from now on? It feels more natural that way."

Apparently, that's what she called him in the future.

"What kind of a relationship do we have, part-time warrior?" Rintarou asked.

"You can say I'm a good friend of the Okabe family."

Okabe family? It was the first time he heard Suzuha mention that term.

"Wait, what do you mean by "Okabe family," warrior? Be a little more specific."

Did she know any other Okabe besides him?

"No, Uncle Okarin, that's not how this is going to work," she said, wagging her finger back and forth. "You will go first. So, tell me, how do you know me? I mean, yesterday you were right, I haven't been born yet at this time."

Okabe Rintarou hesitated to answer that question. He clearly remembered the story of a young woman who traveled to the past to change her own future, and with it, that of humanity. A courageous and daring young woman who was willing to risk everything in order to fulfill her mission. Or was it more appropriate to say that they were two young people? Two different people who had grown up in a rudimentary way, in the midst of wars and tyrannies. The lives of both had been sad and difficult, but in theory, that future would never happen again.

The result of having reached the Steins;Gate could be neither Suzuha alpha nor Suzuha beta, but the one in front of him now. One of whom he knew very little. Would it be convenient to talk to her about alternative realities that had been avoided?

Rintarou knew that Suzuha must have come back in a time machine, and that it was unlikely she could build one on her own. Daru or Kurisu were the only ones that Rintarou felt were capable of finding the solution to the problem of time travel, but he didn't believe that he was capable of allowing the existence of such a device in the future. Also, Suzuha said she was interested in the "future gadgets", so she could have as well been there for them. But if this was the case, she didn't have to pretend not to know him.

Could it be that she had not managed to grow up in a happy way either and so she was returning to the past? Rintarou was concerned about this, but it was a possibility he could not rule out.

"What's going on?" Suzuha asked, worried about the time her uncle Okarin was taking to respond. "Yesterday you said you knew me, and today you are mute."

"It's complicated to explain. To be honest, I don't know if it's something you should know," responded Okabe Rintarou.

Suzuha was not satisfied with the answer.

"Then I'll ask the questions. Remember that if you don't tell me anything, I won't either: it's only fair in an exchange of information."

That being the case, Okabe Rintarou had no choice but to answer her questions if he wanted to find out what she was looking for.

"You said I was here in 2010, did we meet that year?"

Suzuha's question was too direct to avoid, and Rintarou could answer by saying yes.

"Did I arrive in a time machine?"

Again a question to which he alone had to answer in the affirmative.

"Who did I travel to the past with?"

This question seemed strange to Rintarou, but he still answered it.

Suzuha wanted to know if there was an equivalent of her current colleagues, but according to her uncle Okarin's answers, there was no one. She alone had no motivation to travel to the past, beyond tourism or helping Keitarou with his mission, so she was struck by this particular point.

"Why did I travel to the past?"

"You were on your way to 1975 to secure an IBN5100, but you stopped in 2010 because you wanted to meet your father. To think that you didn't even know his real name; it was quite a surprise to find out who he was."

"That sounds like fiction, Uncle Okarin," said Suzuha. "How could I not know Dad's name? Even you mentioned it yesterday: Hashida Itaru."

With that answer Okabe Rintarou was able to corroborate that indeed, the current Suzuha had been raised differently. This gave him the opportunity to explain that there are several "worldlines", and there could even be different versions of the same person, depending on which "attractor field" was in progress.

He had met two Amane Suzuha who had returned in 2010, each with different missions. Suzuha "alpha" had come to find an IBN5100 and thus be able to stop the dystopia created by SERN as a result of the abuse of time machine technology, while Suzuha "beta" had returned in order to prevent the start of World War III, also a product of the existence of the same device.

Saving the fate of mankind was not something Okabe Rintarou was proud of, but instead of disturbing it, the new Suzuha seemed to enjoy the story. She opened her eyes with curiosity when he mentioned the relevance of the actions her previous versions carried out, and asked for details, as if in those worldlines she was a "real warrior," if she had a "battle uniform," if she was good at "hand-to-hand combat," or even if she carried a "real" weapon.

"From what you say, it seems I was a great person," Suzuha said at the end of the story.

"Frankly, you were a great person, part-time warrior."

But instead of smiling like she used to, Suzuha seemed disappointed by the comment.

"What's going on?" Rintarou asked.

"I just thought I'm just a normal person, Uncle Okarin. It's very hard to believe I did everything you said."

Hashida Suzuha used to frequent airsoft camps from the day she reached the legal age to participate. Many of the mock battles of the Valkyrie resistance consisted of "beating the bad guys who wanted to dominate the world" and she always chose the side of the "rebels". She also subjected herself to hard physical training in order to become stronger. But after all, airsoft guns were just plastic replicas, and the so-called "enemies" were just other game enthusiasts like her, with whom she had a healthy sporting rivalry. Even Kayano, who was her biggest adversary in the games, became her best friend again after the round was over. Off the battlefield, the two of them and Mikoshiba Rei would often go out to eat, shop, or even attend the Comina.

There was nothing extraordinary in her everyday life. She never used a weapon that fired anything other than a BB, never injured anyone (or at least not on purpose), never saw anyone die, nor did she know what war or the suffering of her loved ones meant. She had her two parents, her comrades in the resistance, her two friends, and of course she had Okabe Keitarou with her.

Therefore, she could not put herself in the place of Suzuha alpha or Suzuha beta. She could never understand everything they felt.

"If you had a normal life, it's because you wanted to secure that future," said Okabe Rintarou. "You must be proud of yourself: you helped open the doors of the Steins;Gate. For centuries to come, people will sing about the exploits of 'Amane Suzuha', and your name will be recorded as one of the most important in history."

This would not be so. Since he didn't know anyone else with a full Reading Steiner, probably no one else but him would remember that such a future ever existed. But the comment took effect and Suzuha smiled again.

The mad scientist had managed to convince her with his explanation, which, although partly true, was incomplete and retouched. He had omitted important details and altered several parts on purpose.

For example, he hadn't said anything about how a D-mail or a timeleap worked. He avoided explaining that his lab had developed those technologies in the past, and just talked about the time machine Suzuha had arrived in. He also didn't mention that the paper Suzuha beta wanted to destroy to prevent the development of the time machine belonged to Makise Kurisu. He didn't want to mention the death of the latter, nor the thousands of other times she saw Mayuri die. Much less say anything about the suicide letter Suzuha left them in a line of alpha universe.

None of these painful events were something Okabe Rintarou would want to remember on his own, especially now that he knew that all three were safe and sound in the future. He would also have liked to forget everything at once, but it was impossible. He could only be content to be the only one who knew, and he hoped that those memories would die with him as well.

Therefore, the important thing about the story he told was not that Suzuha knew the whole truth about what happened in other worldlines, but that she accepted that new version of events, and with it, was willing to speak up in her turn.

"Now I'm interested in knowing what you're doing this time," he said. "The existence of the time machine can only mean trouble in the future. I must be aware of the situation before information falls into the wrong hands."

Hashida Suzuha thought for a moment, rubbing her hand on her head.

"What can I tell you about the future Uncle Okarin? The food tastes worse, that's for sure. Besides, the city is a bit changed and I think I like it better this time of year."

He looked at her in disappointment: those were not real reasons to travel to the past.

"I know you from the future, too, and I can tell you already have some wrinkles. Maybe you should start an anti-aging treatment right away."

What version of Suzuha was this? Was she trying to sound funny with her comments? Maybe living in peace had led her to develop a different personality, because instead of answering him with important questions, she seemed to be very interested in teasing him.

"I'd better ask the questions," said Rintarou, resigning himself. There was so much he wanted to know, but suddenly the image of a girl jumped into his head. "Who is that girl in the lab, and how does she know the password?"

Suzuha sighed. She was waiting for that question and she knew that she could not avoid it any longer.

"I'll tell you the truth, it's fair after all," she said and then changed her tone to a more serious one: "her full name is Okabe Shizuka."

Okabe Shizuka? Rintarou couldn't remember ever meeting anyone by that name.

"Okabe" was also his last name, so perhaps it was a future family member of his, and Suzuha had said that she was a good friend of the "Okabe family" when she spoke to him moments before. The mad scientist was not particularly attached to his family, and rarely visited his relatives. He also did not have any siblings, and did not believe that his parents would be able to have any more children in the future.

If the "Okabe family" had somehow spread, the only possibility left was...

"Don't tell me she's..."

He didn't dare finish the sentence himself.

"That's right, Uncle Okarin!" said Suzuha smiling. "Shizuka-chan is your daughter."

If a nuclear bomb had fallen on Akihabara at that time, Okabe Rintarou would be less surprised. But the news he'd just heard from Suzuha had literally shocked him: hearing it, he unwittingly took a step back and ended up banging one of the boxes on the shelves.

"Are you all right?" Suzuha asked, jumping out of the TV where she was sitting.

"How?" It's all Rintarou could pronounce. "How is that possible?"

Suzuha looked at him worriedly. Perhaps he had hit his head too hard and so could not reason properly.

"I don't know how to explain it to you, Uncle Okarin. I think my mom tried it once with birds and bees, although it was kind of pathetic," said Suzuha, closing her eyes. "You see, when you were alone with her mother in the future, what happened was that you…"

"I'm not talking about that!"

Okabe Rintarou was not interested in the process by which he had made a daughter, but in the circumstances that had led to it.

"Ah. Then I will say that you fell passionately in love, and as a product of that union you had offspring. It was as simple as that."

"I don't know how to feel if you say it like that," complained Rintarou. He was a bit dazed by the blow and Suzuha was not sparing any opportunity to make it worse.

"Come on, Uncle Okarin, it's not as bad as you think. At least you were married when she was born, so you can say she's your official daughter."

At least? Rintarou did not understand the purpose of using those words in that sentence, but he was not in a position to meditate on the matter. He had to first accept and face the fact that he was going to be a father.

He already knew that in other alternative lines he would die by the year 2025, in fact, he feared that in the Steins;Gate that future could be repeated. However, that was the first time he had been informed about the possibility of marriage and even more, of having children. This took him by surprise, but perhaps Suzuha was right and shouldn't be bothered, but quite the opposite: it could be a very positive development in his life.

Suzuha was beginning to feel comfortable with the situation too, and smiled at the knowledge that her uncle Okarin was taking everything seriously. She felt the desire to tell him more about the future:

"With Dad you founded a company where you make future gadgets, as well as computer products," she began to relate. "All the members of the laboratory are part of the decisions and have actions, even I have some since I was born. They help me pay for college, although I also do part-time work as a waitress. The products are not entirely famous but they sell well. You and Dad are still very good friends in the future. After all, the company is called 'Titor&Kyouma Co.'"

"I see." Okabe Rintarou sat down on the television set vacated by Suzuha as he recovered from the shock of the blow. "What are the other members of the lab doing? Is everyone okay?"

"Yes, they're all very busy."

Suzuha searched her memory for the names of the members on the plaque she had received the day before and began to tell the future of each one of them:

Shiina Mayuri was a primary school teacher. She liked to be surrounded by children, and they too used to love her for her big heart. She was very loved and respected in the school she belonged to.

Kiryuu Moeka worked in a large publishing house for light novels. Suzuha didn't know exactly what her role was there, but she did know that it was the same publishing house for which the author of the famous sagas of "My Rainbow" and "Jumping Rabbit" wrote.

Akiha Rumiho was a millionaire entrepreneur and a major shareholder in Titor&Kyouma Co. She had a popular maid cafe franchise with branches all over Japan and North America. Her ultimate goal was to expand worldwide and master it with 'moe'.

Urushibara Ruka had a job at a university as an English teacher, and his students used to mistake him for a beautiful adult woman. He also collaborated with his father and sister in keeping his family's temple running.

Finally, Makise Kurisu was the scientific advisor to Okabe Rintarou and Hashida Itaru's company. She doesn't work specifically on that, because she had a position as a senior researcher at a prestigious American university, but she always collaborates with them in the creation of new gadgets.

Suzuha would have liked to add a few more things about the missing members, but decided she said enough to make him understand that the future was not a dystopia or total chaos. Okabe Rintarou seemed to realize that.

"Seems like the future's pretty good for everybody."

He was even surprised that Mayuri was a primary school teacher, since she had not yet entered any university or institute of higher education. At that time, she only alternated between her job as a waitress at the May Queen Nyan Nyan and the bakery where Suzuha's future mother, Amane Yuki, also worked. Knowing that she would continue studying was very good news.

But if the future was so ideal, the existence of the time machine was unnecessary. If the members of the laboratory were well, and following their lives in a good way, there must be no real reason to want to change anything.

The Steins;Gate was everything he would have wanted, even better.

"I can't say everything is rosy, Uncle Okarin," interrupted Suzuha. "I must admit that sometimes things are pretty strange when it comes to the Okabe family."

He didn't understand what she meant. His family was the problem? What did that mean?

"Shizuka-chan for example. I couldn't say she's a normal person. Don't get me wrong, I've known her since she was born and I have a certain fondness for her. However, I can't deny that I don't trust her and she always gave me a bad feeling."

Okabe Rintarou had considered Shizuka a troublesome person just now, but he still did not understand what Suzuha meant.

"What did she do to make you think that way?" he asked.

"Well, yesterday she dared to hack into Yodobashi Camera. We saw it on TV together, remember?"

"Yes, I remember. But you're saying she's 'JumpingRabbit011'?'"

Suzuha answered in the affirmative. The dreaded hacker that Okabe Rintarou wanted to avoid at all costs was no one but his future daughter.

Suddenly everything made sense: Shizuka had recognized Daru on channel and had tried to talk to him privately. That's also why she knew about the existence of the "Future Gadget Lab". Also, the first time he heard her voice in person, he felt he had heard it before: it was the same voice that sounded through the speakers that Saturday.

"Don't think her skills are limited to the technology of this era," Suzuha said. "Sometimes it's hard to believe that a girl like her can manage to break high-level security, even in the future. It shouldn't be so surprising, though, if you consider who her mentor was. My dad admires her a lot, says that Shizuka is his best disciple and that one day she will become 'the best hacker ever.'"

He thought for a moment before continuing, looking at Okabe Rintarou's face that was still surprised by what he heard.

"Do you know, Uncle Okarin? You're a proud father, and whenever you can you show off your daughter. Her mother also thinks she's very talented."

Even Suzuha was sometimes a little envious. Though Keitarou was always telling her how strong and intelligent he thought she was, she knew that her abilities were no big deal, while the achievements of the Okabe siblings bordered on the extraordinary. It must be in their genes.

"Suzuha," Rintarou interrupted her when she heard a detail that sounded very striking, "can you tell me who her mother is?"

The part-time warrior thought for a moment: she could tell him that her mother was Makise Kurisu, but that would be equivalent to giving him more spoilers about his life. Although it had already been a great revelation to learn that he would have a daughter, and another one that he would found a company with his right hand, she didn't want his uncle Okarin to become lazy or pretentious in knowing who his future wife would be, and therefore, not to make the effort that he should in order to win her love.

"It's out of bounds to the exchange," replied Suzuha. "If you want, you can ask Shizuka. Maybe you'll get lucky, but I don't think she'll tell you."

Rintarou didn't want to investigate. He was a little curious as to what kind of person he would marry, but at the same time he was afraid that the answer would not be "Makise Kurisu."

Leaving that topic aside, he recalled that "JumpingRabbit011," whose real name was now Okabe Shizuka, was locked up in the same lab that he tried to prevent her from visiting.

"Do you know why she's looking for the IBN5100?" he asked.

"I really don't know. Even I find her attitude strange," said Suzuha. "Since we came to the past, she has been wandering around the city looking for that device on her own. Dad always says that the skill of a good hacker is in leaving no trace of their actions, but she doesn't seem to care whether she draws attention to herself or not. Because of that, she almost ended up in the police station."

Police? It sounded important. The mad scientist needed to know the details.

Suzuha told him what had happened: while she was meddling with Yodobashi's system using an old cell phone as a screen interface, Shizuka got hungry. She wanted to order a shawarma at a food stand, but then discovered that she didn't have any money from that time to pay for it. The salesman was angry about this, and wouldn't accept the 10 cryptocoins she offered him instead.

A cop was nearby and saw the scene. He suspected by her appearance, that Shizuka was a high school student who had run away from school. He asked her questions about her identity, but she didn't answer anything beyond her name. Then he asked her to say if she had any family members to vouch for her, or he would have to take her to the station to do research, so Shizuka, canceling her computer operation first, gave him her phone number with a contact.

Hashida Suzuha left the store quickly after answering the police call. When she got there, she had a hard time explaining what Shizuka was doing, or why she wasn't at school. She made up the best she could, although at times she also thought about creating a distraction and running away. Luckily for her, the policeman was unusually kind and decided to let them go under warning.

Even though they had managed to overcome that setback (certainly, being people of the future they had no identification, which would be difficult to explain to the authorities) Suzuha was not satisfied. She felt that Shizuka was creating problems, with a purpose that she and Keitarou were unaware of. She was suspicious of her true intentions.

"When we returned to the hotel yesterday, I confiscated the portable microprocessor she brought from the future, and her cell phone. I tried to get her to confess why she wanted an IBN5100 so badly, and even forbade her to eat until she told me, but she still didn't say anything. In the end, I tried to get that silly rabbit she likes so much away from her, but she resisted and it ended badly between us. She's probably mad at me and I doubt she'll ever speak to me again."

That explained to Okabe Rintarou the existence of the headless stuffed animal and why Shizuka had come to the lab so hungry that day. Although as a father-to-be he couldn't approve of the methods Suzuha had used, he was now as intrigued as she was by the solution to the riddle.

"Secret Operation," Rintarou said aloud.

Suzuha looked at him without understanding what he meant.

"She answered that when Daru asked her what she needed the IBN5100 for."

Suzuha did not know that Shizuka had already contacted Hashida Itaru and Okabe Rintarou, but if she had sought them out specifically, then she knew they might have a clue as to the whereabouts of the device. Suzuha also remembered that, according to her uncle Okarin, she herself had returned to another line of the universe for an IBN5100. The facts must be connected.

Suddenly, everything made sense.

"Uncle Okarin, is it possible that you and Dad asked Shizuka to look for an IBN5100 in the past?" she asked.

Okabe Rintarou didn't know this, but from everything he knew about other attractor fields, there was that possibility.

"Then you have to find out!" Suzuha demanded. "Then we can both solve this mystery."

"Why do I have to?" Rintarou asked.

"You're her father in the future, right? If you're the one who sent her to get the IBN, maybe she'll tell you."

"Wait a minute, warrior!" Interrupted the mad scientist. "First of all you must explain why you two are here and how you got a time machine."

Hashida Suzuha sighed again. It was another subject she could no longer avoid, but fortunately she had prepared herself mentally for that battle.

"I suppose I'll have to tell," she began. "Shizuka and I belong to a group called the 'Schrödinger Squad.' Our leader was the one who got the time machine up and running and assigned us the tasks we have to accomplish in 2012."

"Isn't that 'Schrödinger Squad' planning to conquer the world or something?" Rintarou asked.

"Of course not, Uncle Okarin. Our stay here is transitory, and it is important that we finish as quickly as possible so that we can leave this year. I don't think our actions will have much effect on the future, so you don't have to worry about our presence."

As long as he married Makise Kurisu and had two children, one could say that everything would be in order. Suzuha also didn't believe that Okabe Keitarou had any intention of preventing his own birth or that of his younger sister.

"What do you all have to do in this day and age?"

"Our mission is secret and that's all I can tell you," Suzuha said.

Keitarou had asked Suzuha to spy on his future father. Since they were best friends, she wouldn't betray him.

"That's all you're going to tell me!?" Rintarou asked again, indignant at the lack of details.

"I've told you more than enough. Besides, our leader would be angry if he knew about our information exchange. I'm forbidden to reveal my identity or Shizuka's. As you know, it could be dangerous if other people find out that we are time travelers."

If it weren't for Uncle Okarin never mentioning in the future that he already knew Suzuha from other worldlines, he wouldn't have known they were there. This fact, plus Shizuka's strange attitude towards the IBN5100, made Suzuha suspect that it might all be a trap. Perhaps the Okabe Rintarou of the future was aware that they would travel to the past, although Keitarou insisted that he had never discussed the matter with his parents and that they had no reason to be suspicious.

"But if you find out why Shizuka wants that computer, then maybe I'll be willing to exchange more information with you. What do you say, we make a deal, Uncle Okarin?" Suzuha proposed.

Convincing her Uncle Okarin from the past to be on their side could be a great tactical advantage. That way she could spy on him while finding out more about what was going on.

But Okabe Rintarou was not so sure about the proposal.

"How am I supposed to do that? She doesn't want to talk to me. At no point did she tell me I was her father, much less treat me like one."

Even Amane Suzuha had been happy to learn that Daru was her father and the scene between them had been very moving, but Okabe Shizuka did not seem to mind having met Okabe Rintarou in the past.

"Don't worry, I know she seems a little distant now, but deep down she's a daddy's girl. The truth is that she adores you and always defends you if they say something bad about you," said Hashida Suzuha with total confidence about the relationship between the two. "If it helps, you can use her nicknames to make her feel at ease with you. You'll call her many things in the future like 'my sweet RDX' or 'my princess of terror,' but I think her favorite is 'my little destructive angel'. You used to call her that since she was little."

The mad scientist didn't think he was capable of uttering such ridiculous words as those. Would fatherhood change him to the point where he felt ashamed of himself for inventing such nonsense? He definitely wasn't ready to be a father yet.

Despite his insecurity, Rintarou decided to accept Suzuha's deal. He himself was planning to get more information about Okabe Shizuka, so this did not deviate from his initial intentions.

"I'm glad you decided to accept. But before you go, I need to borrow your phone for a moment."

Rintarou gave the device to Suzuha, who installed an application on it. She explained that it was a program that encrypted all communications, so it would be safer to communicate with each other without the spy services being able to know what they were talking about. He thought it was a useful tool in the times when SERN was still looking for information related to time machines, but the braid girl did not mention to him that her second function was that she could spy on all his communications.

"Now, good luck your new mission, Uncle Okarin!"

Okabe Rintarou left the shop and went upstairs. At every step he took, he swallowed saliva just thinking that he was venturing to talk to his future daughter.

He opened the door to the lab. He watched as Shizuka had finished eating and was now in front of Daru's computer.

On the screen there were a lot of open text sheets, while she was typing a kind of programming code at high speed. Many of the words like "if", "while", "value" and "function" were some of the words that the mad scientist could recognize from the English language, but he had no idea what the whole thing was about.

"Okabe Shizuka?"

Her name was the only thing he could think to say to get your attention. She stopped the work she was doing and Rintarou noticed how the pallor of her face had disappeared. Instead, Shizuka held the same sort of strong gaze as the day before, when they first met.

"Are you my future daughter?"

After his talk with Suzuha he was already sure of that, but he needed to hear it from her own mouth.

Shizuka shook her head back and forth, however, making Rintarou feel confused.

"You're not? But the part-time warrior said that…"

"Hououin Kyouma's," she said.

So it was true: these two were father and daughter in the future.

"You should have told me from the beginning. You didn't have to keep such important information from me," he reproached. She just stared at him. "Look, I'm not angry with you, but if you came all this way it's because you have something to do and I need to know the details."

She did not respond and Okabe Rintarou began to suspect that Okabe Shizuka was not really sure she could tell him the truth.

"Why are you hesitating? As your future father I'm willing to help you, don't you understand?" he insisted.

"Dad always knows," she replied.

"What?"

"The answer."

There he realized the crux of the matter: Shizuka apparently needed an answer for " .Kongroo", the password she had already uttered twice in his presence.

That phrase had no particular meaning for Rintarou. He never came up with any kind of answer, but tried to find one.

"La Yohda Stasella?"

Shizuka shook her head back and forth.

"The choice of the Steins;Gate?"

Shizuka denied the answer again.

He tried other puns he could think of, but it was none of them. So he gave up.

It was probably a key that he would invent in the future especially to interact with her, a kind of secret between father and daughter. That being the case, he was at a disadvantage, because he had not yet experienced fatherhood firsthand. But if he wanted to gain Shizuka's trust, it would be best to act like Hououin Kyouma, since she took that silly game seriously.

On reflection, he realized that there was a lack of consistency in the situation.

"If you're Hououin Kyouma's daughter, shouldn't you at least take his last name?" he said. "I mean, what kind of name is "Okabe Shizuka?"

"Shizuka" was a very common Japanese name. Daru would say that it was appropriate for a secondary heroine of a visual novel; a shy and quiet character who has a good romantic ending_,_ but it's not the true ending. Or it could even be worn by a baby named in haste by an old man and a high school student, whose only relevant skill is becoming invisible. But whatever the case, the name was not compatible with being the daughter of a great mad scientist, whose IQ rivaled that of Albert Einstein or Nikola Tesla.

"I have another one," she said.

"And what would that be?" Rintarou asked curiously.

"Hououin Kurari."

The mad scientist thought it didn't sound so bad. Written as "鳳凰院暗理" it had the right evil aesthetic, but he wasn't willing to admit it so easily.

"You say your name is Clarissa Hououin?" By instinct, he had added a "ssa" to the name Kurari. "Why don't you introduce yourself like that from the beginning?"

"She doesn't like it."

"Who?"

"Her. Shizuka is better."

By "her" she was referring to a woman who was not present in the room, nor to Amane Suzuha.

"Do you mean your..." said Rintarou, without finishing her sentence. Clearly it was her mother. "Tell me, can you tell me who it is? Do I know her?"

Shizuka was silent and he felt no desire to ask again.

Even though they were talking, Rintarou didn't feel things were going well.

If Shizuka was going to stay with him at that time, it would be best to find an effective way to communicate. He could resort to the nicknames Suzuha gave him, but it would be too embarrassing to call him "my little destructive angel". He wouldn't call her "JumpingRabbit011" either, since the alias was otherwise ridiculous. It would be best to rename it in a way that it would feel comfortable.

"Listen well, Clarissa, from now on and while you are in the past, your new title will be "Envoy of Chaos", do you understand?"

He had improvised it at the time, but clearly Shizuka was some sort of emissary bringing a message from the future, which he intended to discover.

She shook her head in the affirmative. She had no problem being called that.

"Well, Envoy of Chaos. First of all, I want you to stop hacking into the people of this era. If anyone finds out about you, we could be in serious trouble."

Many haters left threatening messages for JumpingRabbit011 on channel. These may have been just words, but like his future father, Okabe Rintarou had to ensure her safety.

Shizuka did not refute the order. Still, she seemed to recognize some sort of authority, which was good for him.

"I also need to know what you're looking for the IBN5100 for. If my future me asked you to find that model, he must have given you some kind of instruction."

But Shizuka did not respond at all. Not that day, nor the rest of that week, did she say anything about her purpose.

* * *

_Saturday, October 13, 2012_

"That's how it all happened," said the mad scientist at the end of the story. "So what do you think, assistant?"

Makise Kurisu pondered what she had heard.

"It's an interesting story. However, nothing you said proves that Shizuka is really your daughter."

Okabe Rintarou thought the issue of her identity was resolved, but Kurisu was skeptical.

"For example, have you seen that time machine with your own eyes? Did they show you other evidence to back up what they say? Or are you just going to believe their words? I find it very suspicious that none of them would want to reveal more about what they do in this time, what if this is all a plan to trick you, Okabe?"

She was right: he hadn't seen the time machine with his own eyes. It did not appear to be on the roof of Radio Kaikan, and neither Suzuha nor Shizuka had revealed its current location to him. Nor had they shown him anything to back up everything they had told him about the future, and both were very reluctant to tell him what they had do in the year 2012.

Despite this, he had no doubt that Amane Suzuha was the same as before, which confirmed that the time machine really existed. His Reading Steiner was the best proof he could have. He also didn't believe that either of them had any reason to lie to him, or that they were planning to harm him.

Makise Kurisu believed that there was a scientific way to resolve the doubts about Okabe Rintarou's future paternity. She knew that certain genetics laboratories used to offer paternity testing based on standardized DNA tests. By sending a sample from both Rintarou and Shizuka, they would have almost foolproof evidence that in the future they were father and daughter.

"And if you have a suspicion about what her mother's identity might be, we can send a sample and find out, too."

DNA is a part of the individual that cannot be easily altered, and therefore, could not lie. This analysis could be the ultimate test, but Rintarou was not sure that he would try such a method.

"I don't think it's necessary to go that far. I trust what the part-time warrior says, and besides…"

He could not explain it, but he had come to understand it on his own. Although Shizuka was very different than he had expected, he was beginning to feel something towards her that could only be defined as "paternal instinct". This told him that they were related. Of course, it wasn't a fact that he could prove scientifically, and it wasn't the most comfortable feeling in the world, more so knowing that she was a 14-year-old girl who barely bothered to talk to him. Maybe the blood was thicker than water.

"Then you've got it figured out, Okabe. But if you feel that way, maybe it's true."

He was in the catalogue of people where "conventional logic" no longer worked as it should, and Kurisu was beginning to accept that she too was becoming more and more involved in his strange world.

"That's right, but even if she's my future daughter, I don't understand what's going on in her head, nor do I know how to make her trust me," complained Rintarou. "That's why I wanted to talk to you, Christina. Will you help me find out why I would send her away? Or at least tell me how I can deal with her. I haven't disclosed this information to any lab member, and my assistant is the most reliable person I can turn to."

A feared mad scientist making the effort to get along with his teenage daughter was something Makise Kurisu would have paid to see. In another situation, his intentions would have seemed even tender, but in the current state of affairs, she was not in the mood to joke about it. She could tell that Okabe Rintarou was really worried and it made sense that he would be like that: no man on earth was prepared to deal with a future daughter who had literally appeared out of nowhere.

She thought about what kind of advice to give him and after some time of meditation, she was able to give her opinion.

"I am sorry, but I cannot help you," Kurisu said.

He did not seem at all happy with the answer and demanded an explanation.

"Okabe, the relationship between a father and his daughter is sacred. That's why I can't intervene."

If there was one person who could help him, it would be Rintarou's future wife and Shizuka's mother, but they did not know her identity.

"Just try to do your best," added Kurisu. "Although sometimes you are careless, a pervert, a street stalker, a chuunibyou, a delusional scientist…"

"I don't understand what that's all about now," Rintarou interrupted, not agreeing with the description he was hearing about him.

"I said," she continued, ignoring the interruption, "that despite all that, I think even a fool like you could not ruin it. I'm sure you'll make a better father."

Makise Shouichi, alias "Dr. Nakabachi" would have been capable of murdering his own daughter for a paper. It was the worst possible example of parenthood, and even with all the flaws he had, Hououin Kyouma would not be able to stoop so low.

Okabe Rintarou knew that this wound was always present in Kurisu. Being hated by the same man who gave you life must have been a very hard burden. Rarely did his assistant want to share how she felt about it. She was likely to do her best to bear it alone, even if the pain broke her into a thousand pieces.

He was going to tell her that as a member of the laboratory, she could count on him if she needed to talk about it, if not because Shizuka returned from her expedition first.

"Did you find what you were looking for, envoy of chaos?" he asked.

The teenager shook her head.

All three retired from the May Queen. Once on the street, Okabe Rintarou took out his cell phone to check the time and remembered the message his assistant had sent him that week, to which he had not paid enough attention.

"With all this stuff we didn't talk about the future gadget you came up with CelebSev, don't you want to go somewhere else?"

It was still early. They could go to the laboratory, although Rintarou preferred to avoid it, since he wanted to keep Shizuka as far away from the other members as possible and thus spare himself the explanations of how he had met her.

"It won't be necessary," answered Kurisu. "I had an idea in my mind, but I realized it was foolish."

"Any idea is welcome. You rubbed it in my face the other day that we haven't invented anything useful for years and we must increase our production if we want to survive."

Rintarou didn't yet know how he would turn his lab into a company at this rate, but he knew that Kurisu would be his backbone in the future, so he didn't think anything coming from her could be so bad that they wouldn't try.

"I said it was nothing important," Kurisu repeated.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure and don't ask me any more Okabe!"

He had to shut up. He was afraid to ask again.

Inside Kurisu a storm was raging. Shiina Mayuri had convinced her to go ahead with the ridiculous idea of expressing her feelings to Okabe Rintarou. Kurisu herself had thought that she should try: she had never made a confession before, and though her pride hurt, he was the first man she had ever fallen in love with.

However, Okabe was married with a daughter in the future. It seemed that fate wanted to play a bad joke by revealing that information prematurely. Of course, there was also the possibility that Shizuka was related to her, but if that was the case shouldn't she also feel that "instinct" that Okabe was talking about?

She didn't feel any of that. She couldn't even know how she should feel about him at that moment.

"I'd better go now. It was a pleasure, Shizuka-san. See you later, Okabe."

Makise Kurisu chose to retire to think better alone, leaving behind an Okabe Rintarou who was very confused by her attitude.

"What the hell's wrong with her?"

"She's angry," said Shizuka.

He agreed with the comment. He could tell that his assistant was angry for some reason unknown to him, but it took him a moment to realize what Shizuka had said: her observation gave away that she knew well what she was talking about.

"Clarissa, do you know Christina in the future?"

Shizuka nodded, confirming his suspicion.

"What's the relationship between you two?"

Rintarou himself had considered the possibility that Christina and Clarissa could be mother and daughter. Even if Shizuka was not going to reveal who her mother was, he could find indications of this possibility based on her answers.

She only said one word:

"Far."

Far? What kind of relationship was that? Did she mean that their relationship was distant? That they didn't get along? Or maybe that they weren't physically close? Whatever the case, neither option seemed appropriate for a mother and daughter, so it would be better to give up that idea.

He didn't want to get his hopes up about Kurisu. He repeated to himself that it was enough to know that she was still alive. He was not worth expecting to get much more than that. At least he took comfort in knowing that Christina would remain his loyal assistant and help him create more future gadgets in the future.

He would wait another nine years to solve the mystery of his future wife. It was not good to be impatient; if he had "fallen passionately in love" as Suzuha said, it could not be that bad. When that happened, he planned to make profound changes in Shizuka's education. To begin with, this time he would give her another name, as long as convergence did not prevent him from doing so. But speaking of her...

"Hey, come back here!"

Okabe Rintarou saw how Shizuka had retreated almost an entire block without him noticing. She did not turn back, so he had no choice but to follow her.

* * *

**Next Chapter:** "Chapter 8: Reading Steiner"


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